Happy New Year To All My Dear Wolf Friends…

This is HFJ’s third New Year and I feel very lucky to have so many loyal readers who care about wolves, wildlife and wild places.

Thank you for standing with me and the wolves through thick and thin.  I couldn’t have done it without you!! May this be a better year for the wild ones.

For the wolves,

Nabeki

Top photo: Arctic wolf wallpaper

Rose Photo: http://www.fabiovisentin.com

Posted in: Howling for Justice

Tags: Happy New Year, 2012

The Wolf That Could, OR7 Crosses Into California and Walks Into History..

The Imnaha Pack, OR7’s Parents  (Alpha Female”Sophie” far left, Alpha Male OR4, black wolf , head  lowered) (ODFW)

OR7, the young, dispersing Oregon wolf, who has captured the world’s attention with his epic journey, crossed into California from Oregon Wednesday night, making him the first wolf to officially set a paw in California since 1924. It was in his  genes, In 2008, OR7’s  mother, wolf  B-300, nicknamed “Sophie”,  dispersed from Idaho into Oregon by swimming the Snake River to her new home in the “Beaver State”.

Here she is caught on camera scampering along in the snow after her 08 arrival, quite the traveler,  just like her famous son.

“A female gray wolf from Idaho’s Timberline Pack has been positively located in Oregon”  “The wolf, a two to three-year-old female identified as B-300”. “Experts have long predicted that wolves from the expanding Idaho population would continue to cross the Snake River and enter Oregon. “

Once in Oregon “Sophie” found a mate, OR4 and became the alpha female of the Imnaha Pack, the first wolf pack to inhabit Oregon in over sixty years.  It’s been a rough go for the Imnaha’s,  beleaguered for the last several years, under constant death threats  because of a handful of livestock depredations blamed on the pack (19 in two years).  Oregon ranchers lost 51,200 cows  (NASS) to non-predation in 2010 but the focus is always on negligible  losses to wolves. The livestock industry gets lots of mileage grandstanding about wolves. I guess they figure if they repeat something often enough people will believe it. Nobody is going out of business over 19 cows.

“Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild said that the number of livestock killed by gray wolves is miniscule compared with the numbers that die being born, in severe weather or from disease. Ranchers also lose cows to thieves. 

“Wolves are not a threat to the livestock industry,” Klavins said, emphasizing the need for the state to balance the needs of ranchers with conservation.” 

Even with the shadow hanging over his parent’s heads nothing can diminish OR7’s accomplishment, he is his mother’s son, following in her illustrious footsteps.

Wolves are consummate wanderers, they can travel 25 miles a day without breaking a sweat. They have runner’s bodies with their long legs, deep chests, slim bodies and snowshoe feet. Wolves are the marathoners of the animal kingdom and OR-7 has not disappointed.

His travels:

“Tracking OR7’s Journey From His Natal Pack, Before He Crossed Into California Wednesday night”(ODFW)

Just two years old,  he’s doing what wolves have done for thousands of years, search for a mate to establish his own pack and claim territory. To add to his mystery, no recent pictures of him exist.

Wearing a GPS collar, OR7’s wanderings have been closely tracked by biologists. He migrated 730 miles across Oregon over two months beginning last September. Over the past month, he’s been in the Siskiyou National Forest, northeast of Medford. This week, he wandered south of the Oregon town of Keno, just 10 miles from the California border.

“He’s doing what young males typically do — they outgrow their pack and go out to find their own mate, to try to make a pack,” said fish and game spokeswoman Jordan Traverso.

He’s not likely to find a mate  in California, unless he’s aware of something we aren’t. There could be uncollared wolves in California we know nothing about.  Or he might be traveling with a female companion.  He’s remained elusive as only wolves can, so no one is quite sure what he’s up to. More then likely he’ll wander around for awhile and return to Oregon or travel into Nevada,  or he could head further south, it’s anyone’s guess.

I worry for his safety, so many eyes are on him and not just friendly ones. OR7 is FEDERALLY PROTECTED by the Endangered Species Act, it’s a crime to harm him.

Ranchers are already beating the drums about his presence.  But wolves really have little impact on livestock.

“Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild’s conservation director, sees the wolf divide as a culture clash.“

“Folks are really fighting wolf recovery … because they perceive it as the big bad federal government or the terrible people in the Willamette Valley in Oregon bringing back an animal that their grandparents wiped out for good cause,” he said. “It’s really more of a debate over values than it is about wolves and what they actually do.”

On a lighter note. OR7 was to have a new name.

“…The conservation group Oregon Wild, deciding that OR7 needed a more endearing name, launched a contest that drew several hundred suggestions from children as far away as Nigeria and Taiwan. The winner will be announced after New Year’s Day from the five finalists: Arthur, Max, Journey, Lupin and Takota.“

Since he’s now a California wolf has Oregon lost the right to name him? We’ll see. He may be taking a holiday stroll in the Golden State and be back in Oregon before the New Year.

Stay safe OR7, the eyes of the world are upon you.

Britain’s Daily Mail recently said OR-7 “captured the heart of the American public” with his incredible zigzag journey through the state that began Sept. 10 in Wallowa County. A Google search shows he’s on more than 300 websites, and his story has been picked up in Finland, Austria, Taiwan, Sweden, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Argentina. 

I hope this will bring the much-needed publicity wolves are due.  His wolf kin in Idaho and Montana and being slaughtered in brutal wolf hunts, 316 are dead as of 12/29/2011. The Idaho hunt stretches all the way into June 2012, in the Lolo and Selway zones. Ten long months!!

This young wolves’ journey has boosted the  spirits of weary advocates, grateful  for any good wolf news. With his light shining so bright, it’s hard not to see the greatness of wolves!

“Alpha Female, B-300 Imnaha Pack (OR7’s mother) and a Two Year Old Male” (ODFW)

===

Lone wolf crosses into California from Oregon

The young animal is the first wolf known to be at large in California since 1924. Wildlife authorities in both states have been monitoring the wolf since it set out from the Crater Lake area in September.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wolf-california-20111230,0,6653668.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Flocal+%28L.A.+Times+-+California+%7C+Local+News%29

===

Wolf’s journey marks strides for its species

By Lisa M. Krieger

lkrieger@mercurynews.com

 Posted: 12/29/2011 09:23:35 PM PST

http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_19643820?source=rss

===

OR-7 ,Oregon’s wandering wolf ,captures imagination of worldwide audience

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011, 10:20 PM     Updated: Monday, December 12, 2011, 12:06 AM

 By Richard Cockle, The Oregonian 

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/12/or-7_–_oregons_wandering_wolf.html

“OR-11, A Male Pup (born Spring 2011) from Oregon’s Walla Walla Pack” (ODFW)

===

Photos: Courtesy ODFW

Posted in:  Oregon wolves, California wolves,  gray wolf

Tags: OR7, dispersing wolf, Oregon, California, rock star wolf, wolves elusive, Imnaha Pack, ODFW, biodiversity

Killing Wolves For Fun And The War On Wolves….

~~~

As 2011 draws to a close I’ll be revisiting a few of my early posts from 2009, when the first wolf hunts were taking place in Montana and Idaho, after the Obama administration delisted them in the Spring of that year. This was the first time wolves were hunted in the lower 48 since the last wolves were wiped out in the 1940′s.

Since 2009 the state sponsored  hunts have gotten bolder and more brutal,  with the inclusion of traps and snares, even bringing Alaskan trappers to kill wolves in Idaho’s Lolo and Selway zones, with the addition of aerial gunning.  All to harass and kill wolves who’ve done nothing wrong except try to exist.

In 2009,  wolf advocates were awaiting Judge Molloy’s decision, would he relist wolves?  The ruling came  in August 2010. Wolves were relisted in the Northern Rockies!! But the victory was short-lived.  Thanks to Jon Tester D-MT,  who inserted a wolf delisting rider into the Senate budget bill, wolves were delisted  and the bill was signed into law by President Obama. Wolves are now paying with their lives for that betrayal.

===

Killing Wolves For Fun & The War On Wolves

November 9, 2009

Wolves have been accused of it but the predator with the reputation for killing for sport isn’t the wolf, it’s man.

I’ve often asked myself why people trophy hunt, this is especially relevant since wolves are firmly in the cross fire, with ongoing wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho.

Wolves aren’t being hunted for food. Hunters are making a personal decision to go out and kill a wolf just because it’s there.

Over 26,000 wolf tags were sold in Idaho alone to kill 220 wolves and Montana sold thousands to kill 75 wolves.  A little over kill, don’t ya think?  Add to that the hatred some people feel for wolves, it makes for an even scarier and mean-spirited climate.

Alaskan wolf shot by aerial gunner

Even before the wolf hunts began the air was charged with anti-wolf bias. The governors of Montana and Idaho inserted themselves into the negative wolf rhetoric.  Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana made a questionable statement about federal Judge Molloy, who is presiding over a lawsuit brought by environmental groups to reverse the recent wolf delisting.  The plaintiffs were asking for an injunction, to stop the wolf hunts, while the merits of the case were being decided.  Governor Schweitzer stated: ”If some old judge says we can’t (hunt wolves), we’ll take it back to another judge.”  That was a totally indefensible remark for the Gov to make. Gov “Butch” Otter of Idaho went one better. Back in 2007, before wolves were even delisted, he stated in front of a rally of camouflage wearing hunters, he was prepared to manage the wolf population down to just 100 animals. He went even further stating “. “I’m prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself.”

Should the executive officers of Montana and Idaho, use the wolf as a political football by posturing to ranching and hunting interests?  What chance does the wolf have to be treated fairly when the governors  make those kinds of statements?

The “management” or killing of wolves is sanctioned by the states of Montana and Idaho but exactly who is this benefiting?  Certainly not over the ninety percent of the non-hunting public.  Wolves and other predators are being “managed” for the benefit of a few interest groups, mainly elk hunters, ranchers and outfitters. The rest of us, who want to view wildlife in their natural state, which means “not dead”, don’t seem to count.  Our wildlife is being slaughtered for the benefit of a few. That is inherently wrong but it continues because hunting and ranching interests have powerful lobbies that seek to influence policy and it works! Unless and until the politics of the usual are replaced with the policies of change, America’s predators will suffer.

wolf photo: SigmaEye Flicker

Montana and Idaho have decided which wildlife they consider important and which are disposable.  Predator management is just a euphemism for killing them.  Millions of taxpayer dollars are spent on tracking, collaring and lethally controlling predators and other wildlife by cruel means, IE, poisoning with 1080 compound, M44s, denning and trapping.  Most of the killing is done by Wildlife Services, which is an arm of the USDA.  The lethal control of wolves is not supported by the majority of Americans but we have little input in the decision-making process. Why does the non-hunting consumer have so little influence on  how our wildlife is managed?

Although predators control ungulate populations, the states aren’t comfortable with that because they cater to the hunting and ranching lobbies, who bring millions into state coffers. This creates a conflict of interest.  Wolves compete with hunters for the same prey.  The budget of state game agencies depend on hunter licensing fees.  Is it any wonder we are having wolf hunts and wolf “management”?

As soon as predators, like the wolf, start to increase in number, the call rings out for them to be managed.   “In 2008, wolves are known to have killed fewer than 200 cattle and sheep in Montana, and 100 wolves were hunted down in response.” 

How can anyone defend that kind ”managment”? Yet Montana and Idaho contend their wildlife management practices are grounded in science.  I would like to see the science that backs wiping out 100 wolves for the death of 200 livestock?

In January 2008, before the current delisting took place, FWP issued new revised rules concerning the “management” of  gray wolves, who had been reintroduced to Central Idaho and Greater Yellowstone in 1995-96.  The new rules state the feds and tribes can kill more wolves if they become a “threat” to game animals and private property.  So once again FWP is “managing” for the benefit of the few ignoring the wants of the many.

Have you ever visited Yellowstone National Park and watched the Druid Peak Pack?  They were literally the super stars of Yellowstone, sadly the pack is plagued by mange, their numbers declining, yet we are caught up in wolf hunts, which threatens them and other wild wolves in the park.  Already the famed Alpha female, 527F, of Yellowstone’s Cottonwood Pack, was gunned down a mile outside of the park, along with the Alpha male and her daughter, when the Montana hunt began.  This decimated the Cottonwood Pack and halted important research into some of Yellowstone’s most famous and studied collared wolves.

Trophy hunting of wolves only inflames passions and hatred of wolves. I won’t call trophy hunting a sport.  It’s an unfair game where the hunted aren’t acquainted with the rules. The only way it could be considered fair is if you placed the “hunter” in the woods without their high-powered rifles or high-tech bows and have them run up against a wolf with their bare hands, you know, Mano y Mano. How many “brave” hunters would be out there killing wolves for fun in that scenario?  I say the number would be ZERO.  Killing for sport is a cowardly exercise that features an uneven playing field between hunters and the hunted,  just to get a cheap thrill and rush of testosterone (yes most hunters are men).  How skillful and brave is it to kill an animal, hundreds of yards away, that has no fighting chance against you, with a scope and high-powered rifle? Trophy hunting gives all hunting a bad name!!  It’s blood lust pure and simple. Wolves shouldn’t be subjected to this in the 21st Century. We’ve already exterminated them in the West once, are we aiming for round two?

Lobo wolf wars (Photo: Nature Online)

The most encouraging words come from Richard Baldes, a Shoshone and former Fish and Wildlife Service biologist on the Wind River Indian Reservation, inhabited by the Arapahoe and Shoshone tribes.  They’re managing to coexist very well with wolves and welcome Canis Lupus.  He explained the tribe’s views to High Country News in 2008:

“The tribes’ management plans are pretty simple. “The Wind River Reservation is somewhat of a sanctuary,” Baldes tells me from his porch at the foot of the Wind River Mountains. Much as they do with the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, which was instrumental in the original reintroduction, wolves play an important role in the lore and religion of Shoshone and Arapahoe people. Wolves represent a social role model, for starters: “They take care of the family,” Baldes says. “The aunts and uncles take care of the young, and they also take care of the old.”

The obvious parallels between government efforts to eradicate wolves and past efforts to eradicate Indians aren’t lost on Baldes. In fact, the resurgence of wolves is a powerful metaphor on the reservation. “The Creator put them here for a reason,” Baldes says. He chuckles to himself about the raging controversy. “People have made the issue with wolves much more complicated than it needs to be,” he says. “It’s just a nice feeling to know that these animals are back and that they’re going to be here to stay. I don’t see any reason why they won’t be here forever.”

====

Why State Fish and Game Agencies Can’t Manage Predators

 By George Wuerthner, 4-17-09

  

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/why_state_fish_and_game_agencies_cant_manage_predators/C564/L564

===

Top Photo: kewl wallpapers

Bottom and Middle Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: trophy hunting wolves, wolves in the crossfire, Wildlife Services, Obama administration de-listing, Druid Peak Pack

Remember Wolves This Christmas…

PRIMAL WOLF

A black wolf howls in bright moonlight

His ancient voice fills the night

It travels far over mountains high

As he silently awaits the packs reply

Their jubilant voices respond as one

Yes we’re ready to hunt and run!

===

Nabeki December 25, 2011

===

Video: YouTube HayyelLovesWolves

Photo: wolf wallpaper

Posted in: gray wolf

Tags: wolf  howl, gray wolf, wolf pack dynamics, wolf poem, Christmas 2011, wolf hunt

Arctic Beauty…..

[youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=3HojmCFRnnA]

===

Videos: Courtesy YouTube videotanja

(Please visit her channel to watch these beautiful, magnificent wolves)

Photo: arctic wolves photo (wwf.panda.org)

Posted in: gray wolf, biodiversity

Tags: arctic wolves, wolves playful nature, remember wolves, wolves elegant predators

Great Lakes Region Wolves Delisted….

Minnesota Gray Wolf

The never-ending bad wolf news just keeps on coming. The Grand High Poo-Ba, Ken Salazar, announced from on high that wolves in the Great Lakes Region (Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin) are no longer in need of ESA protection and will be delisted.

“The delisting rule will become effective 30 days after it has been published in the Federal Register. Official publication in the Federal Register is expected to take place next week.”

Truthfully I’m so tired and anguished over the endless quest to kill wolves. It’s expected wolves in the remaining Western states and Great Plains will also lose their protections in the near future. It doesn’t matter there are no wolves in these states.  This is a pro-active way of stopping wolf recovery in its tracks.  For example, if the dispersing Oregon wolf, OR-7 crosses over into California, he would automatically be federally protected BUT if USFWS is successful in ending federal protections for wolves around the country, a dispersing wolf like OR-7 could be shot.

Minnesota, long thought to be so tolerant of wolves, is already talking about holding a wolf hunt. For years Minnesota’s wolf plan included a five-year waiting period before initiating hunts, if wolves in the state were ever delisted. But this year Minnesota lawmakers repealed the “five-year waiting period”.

When Minnesota Wildlife Services lost their funding this year to trap and kill wolves, both Democrat Senators Franken and Klobuchar got busy. Franken wrote to USDA Secretary Vilsack, pleading for funding to be reinstated. And that’s exactly what happened. Senator Klobuchar made sure money was found to continue to trap and kill wolves.

“Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has been a leader in the effort to immediately delist the Great Lakes gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act list in Minnesota and the western Great Lakes states. She worked with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to speed up the delisting process and received a commitment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that a final ruling to delist will be made before the end of 2011. When it became clear that funding for the Wolf Predation Management Program would expire September 30, Klobuchar worked closely with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to find funding for the program until the end of the year when the wolf is scheduled to be delisted and management will return to the state.”

This is what’s passing as tolerance of wolves in Minnesota. Pretty pathetic. Once again wolves will be turned over to “state management” and we all know what that means. WOLF HUNTS!!! I urge the Humane Society of the United States to take wolves back to court.

What terrible news  just 3 days before Christmas. Will the President and his minions ever stop their war against wolves?

===

Gray Wolf Delisted From Endangered Species List

December 21, 2011 Updated Dec 21, 2011 at 3:04 PM CST

Washington D.C. (Northland’s News Center) — Gray wolves are no longer an endangered species in the Great Lakes area.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that gray wolf populations have recovered enough that they no longer need federal protection.

READ MORE: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Gray-Wolf-To-Be-Delisted-From-Endangered-Species-136002508.html

===

US gray wolves rebound but face uncertain future

By JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press

ATLANTA, Mich. (AP) — After devoting four decades and tens of millions of dollars to saving the gray wolf, the federal government wants to get out of the wolf-protection business, leaving it to individual states — and the wolves themselves — to determine the future of the legendary predator.

The Obama administration Wednesday declared more than 4,000 wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have recovered from widespread extermination and will be removed from the endangered species list.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h0Ggca4ZV8nLzsvL56OpnxRAoG7Q?docId=4881f3a096ce48ac8af68b38844b2f0f

===

Gray wolves coming off endangered species list in western Great Lakes

By Dave Orrick
dorrick@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 12/21/2011 10:52:52 PM CST

“Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials said wolf hunting and trapping could begin as soon as next fall. However, they said it was premature to discuss details of the season, limits and regulations because they were still drafting ideas.

DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said the department has the authority to implement a hunting season on its own but might need legislative approval for various aspects, such as charging for special permits.

And Landwehr added, “We will not implement a season without an opportunity for public comment.”

State lawmakers this year repealed a law that would have forced a five-year waiting period.”

http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_19597312?source=pkg

===

Photo: Courtesy flash-screen.com/wolf wallpaper

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: gray wolves Great Lakes, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Obama administration, Ken Salazar, USFWS, wolf persecution

Wolves…

Wolves – IMAX  enlightens us  regarding the true nature of  this iconic apex predator.  Some information is quite dated, traveling back to the heady days of wolf reintroduction in the Northern Rockies, specifically central Idaho.  The Nez Perce tribe, like other wolf advocates, had high hopes for the wolves’ return, after their long absence.  How the worm has turned.

Looking back, I see how we were all duped into thinking wolf reintroduction would have a happy ending.  In reality, it’s clear there was never any real intent to maintain a viable, robust population of wolves outside the national parks.  It seems “the plan” all along was to slaughter wolves  in trophy hunts or kill them outright when they  “recovered”.  Recovery is never defined, except in the outdated, original capitulation to ranching and hunting interests, of 100 wolves and ten breeding pairs per wolf state (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho) Those numbers are not based on science but politics and were never revised to reflect scientific findings or what constitutes a healthy wolf population in the Northern Rockies.  Wolf recovery is whatever the “wolf managers” deem it to be.  Ten wolves, a hundred, thousands?  That’s not a question the states seem interested in answering on their relentless march to decimate wolves .

The arrogance of  hunters and ranchers who think they have the right to dictate which animals will be allowed to exist on public lands,  is stunning.  These lands belong to us all. They’re  lucky Americans have been “asleep at the wheel”, allowing the anti-wolf crowd to dictate policy to Western politicians, ready and eager to do their bidding.

Things won’t go their way forever.  Congress demonstrated that by stripping the Lummis wolf/ delisting rider from the budget bill. I’m sure it was due in large measure to the outpouring of anger and outrage by conservationists at the stunt Congress pulled this past Spring, delisting wolves in five Western states via budget rider. Doing the same thing again in the same year was not something the Dems were willing to risk, not this close to the 2012 elections.

I hope to see more victories for the wolf in the coming year.

During this holiday season, please take a minute to renew your pledge to do all you can for wolves in 2012. Please remember the 286 fallen wolves, taken so far in the brutal Idaho and Montana hunts. The hunts have splintered, divided and disrupted wolf families, leaving those who remain to struggle on, with no guarantee they’ll live to see another Spring.

For the wolves, For the wild ones,

Nabeki

Video: YouTube Black7Cloud, IMAX Wolves – HD

Photo: Courtesy kewlwallpapers.com

Posted in: gray wolf, biodiversity

Tags: IMAX – Wolves HD, gray wolf, trophic cascades, Yellowstone National Park, wolf pack, wolf intolerance, Nez Perce

“Were The First Dogs Wolves Who Never Grew Up?”

Alaskan Malamute

===

Video: Courtesy YouTube National Geographic

Photo: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Biodiversity, gray wolf, dogs

Tags: dogs, wolves, evolution of dogs, wolf research, National Geographic

Lummis Blames “Radical Environmentalists” For Rider Removal….

Apparently Cynthia Lummis isn’t happy her wolf/delisting rider was removed from the budget bill by Congress. She blames “radical environmentalists”.

“Lummis issued a statement on Friday claiming that radical environmentalists used what she called “their considerable sway in the White House” to remove the language. An attempt to reach her for comment on Friday was unsuccessful.”

Not really sure what political sway she’s talking about?  It was Obama who delisted  wolves in the Northern Rockies, mere months after he took office. It was the Senate Democrats, with help from Republicans, who voted to delist wolves via budget rider last Spring and the President signed the wolf rider/budget bill into law. We have two ongoing, brutal wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho because of that delisting and the Endangered Species Act has been weakened.

If there is any  “sway” it  has more to do with the upcoming 2012 elections AND the wolf and wildlife advocates who burned up the Capitol phone lines this week to send a message to their Representatives.  

NO MORE WOLF DELISTING RIDERS!!

I think  Congress got the message loud and clear!

===

Congress removes wolf ‘no lawsuit’ rider from bill, Lummis blames environmentalists

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/d81c55f4c76946fd9f2897dea8496d2e/WY–Wolves-Wyoming/

===

Congressional negotiators shoot down no-sue clause on Wyoming wolf deal

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/congressional-negotiators-shoot-down-no-sue-clause-on-wyoming-wolf/article_f3568f24-2806-11e1-8dd9-0019bb2963f4.html
===

Congress strips wolf ‘no-lawsuit’ rider from bill

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/congress-strips-wolf-no-lawsuit-rider-from-bill/article_bac77467-57c7-5c8d-8179-df3b64565b83.html

===

Congressional decision could tie up Wyoming wolf management plan in litigation

http://m.billingsgazette.com/mobile/article_b46a28f5-4039-5053-a58a-943617eef339.html

===

Friday news roundup: Prosperous and in Congress

===

http://www.hcn.org/hcn/blogs/goat/friday-news-roundup-wealthy-western-lawmakers

===

Photo: Courtesy Ann S., Wolf People puppy, Arctica

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: Lummis wolf delisting rider, Congress, no rider in budget bill

It’s Final: Lummis Wolf Delisting Rider Out!

The Cynthia Lummis Wolf Rider is out of the spending bill! This is a real victory for wolves and wolf advocates!!

Congress  passed a similar rider last Spring which removed ESA protections from wolves in the Northern Rockies, blocking legal challenges. Now the rider is being litigated as unconstitutional in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Because of that rider we have two brutal wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana, with wolves dying daily and an escalation of the brutality, the likes of which most of us have ever witnessed directed at an animal. The Endangered Species Act has been weakened. Maybe Congress didn’t have the stomach for a repeat of that with the 2012 elections looming.

F0r today, wolves in Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are safe. It’s not often we can  bring good news, lets savor it and live to fight another day!

What made the cut?

Wolves

They’ll still be wasting money chasing wolves around like terrorists and handing out payments to welfare ranchers.

“Wolf monitoring and

livestock loss programs are continued.”

===

Wildlife Services  

Wildlife Services had another 47 million cut from their budget which is a good thing but not enough.

“The bill includes $820 million – $47 million below last year’s level
for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This funding level will continue
support for programs to enhance control or eradication of plant and animal pest and diseases.”

===

Concessions To Ranching, Inc.

More Giveaways 

•A provision to reduce litigation on grazing issues
•A provision to renew and streamline grazing permits
•A provision to exempt livestock producers from overly burdensome greenhouse gas
regulations

===

Summary: Fiscal Year 2012 Final Consolidated Appropriations Bill

http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/12.14.11_Final_FY_2012_Appropriations_Legislation_-_Detailed_Summary.pdf

====

What’s in and out of the bill?

Norm Dicks’ Statement & Summary of Conference Report

http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=314597

===

Photo: Desktop Nexus

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: Lummis wolf rider out, Omnibus Bill 2012, Wyoming Wolves , Great Lakes Region Wolves