ACTION ALERT: Please Comment On Wyoming’s Bad Wolf Plan by Tomorrow, January 13, 2012…

“Reintroduced wolves being carried to acclimation pens, Yellowstone National Park, January, 1995”

Time is running out to comment on Wyoming’s horrific wolf  “management plan”, a euphemism for killing wolves. Please let your voice be heard and tell Wyoming what you think about their “wolf plan” that would allow unregulated killing of wolves in much of the  state.

The Plan

“Under the agreement, negotiated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials and Gov. Matt Mead, the state’s roughly 243 wolves living outside of Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation could be killed on sight in all but the northwest part of the state, where they would be designated as trophy game and could only be hunted with a license.

The plan also establishes a flex zone covering northern Sublette and Lincoln counties, as well as southern Teton County, in which wolves would be protected only from Oct. 15 until the end of the following February.”

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Talking Points

•Wolves are vital to a thriving ecosystem. They keep elk healthy by culling the old, sick and weak. Having wolves on the landscape push elk and other ungulates to keep moving (ecology of fear), preventing over-browsing of young trees,  specifically ash and cottonwood along stream beds. This is called a trophic cascade.

•Wolves are accused of effecting rancher’s bottom line by preying heavily on cattle. In fact this couldn’t be further from the truth.  In 2010, Wyoming ranchers lost 37,100 cows to non-predation. Wolves were responsible for just 26 cows and 33 sheep losses, yet 40 wolves were killed in response.

•Wolves are blamed for decimating elk numbers in Wyoming. The truth is in 2010 there were 120,000 elk in the state up from 95,000 in 2009, plenty of elk by any standards. There are close to 400,000 (371, 000) elk in the tri-state area Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

•Assigning “predator status” to wolves, in 90% of the state, is essentially a death sentence for Wyoming wolves.

•Wolves in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National park will be in grave danger from this “plan”

•Wolves are an economic bonanza for the Greater Yellowstone Area or GYA. They generate 35 million annually to the area. Tourists flock from all over the world to Yellowstone,  just to get a glimpse of a wild wolf. They are the rock stars of the park. Yet Wyoming is willing jeopardize  park wolves and all wolves in the state just to please a small, vocal group of hunting and ranching interests.

•”Predator status” means wolves can be killed at any time for any reason in 90% of the state. They can be run over by ATV’s and snowmobiles or chased by these vehicles until they drop dead. They can be tortured and nobody will be the wiser, because a license won’t be needed to kill a wolf. The only requirement is the wolf killer report the killing to the state.  Sort of like being on the buddy system with no incentive to report.

•This “plan” will destroy wolf families and leave wolves unprotected from the fierce hatred of anti-wolf factions. They could suffer unimaginable torment.

•The current plan is almost identical to the one USFWS rejected for years as insufficient.  What has changed?

•Let them know you will be boycotting Wyoming, specifically Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP,  until they stop the push to exterminate wolves in the state.

• Be courteous but resolute

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From EarthJustice

Defend Protections For Wolves

Northern Rockies wolves are in peril! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed to remove wolves in Wyoming from the endangered species list. This deadly proposal would allow unlimited, shoot-on-sight killing of wolves in nearly 90 percent of the state.

Under intense political pressure from Wyoming state officials, the Fish and Wildlife Service cut a deal that could hand wolf management over to the state, allowing politics—not science—to decide the fate of wolves in the region.

Independent scientists say that 2,000 to 3,000 wolves are needed for a sustainable, fully recovered population. But at the end of last year, only an estimated 1,650 wolves were living in the Northern Rockies—with just 343 wolves in Wyoming.

The federal government has spent 16 years and millions of dollars to reintroduce wolves in the West. This proposal combined with the recent congressional delisting and hunting of wolves in Idaho and Montana threatens their very survival. Help us fight back against this deadly proposal.

Take action to speak out for strong wolf protections and a plan that supports a full recovery for the species.

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

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Send Written Comments to:

Public Comments Processing
Attn: Docket No. FWS–R6–ES–2011–0039
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM
Arlington, Virginia 22203

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Speak out for Wyoming’s wolves!!  Deadline tomorrow, January 13, 2012.

The anti-wolf forces have alerted their followers to send in their comments. Please do not let them drown out our voices.

BE HEARD!! 

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Public Comment Opposing De-Listing of Wolves in Wyoming

Friends of Animals

January 07, 201

http://www.friendsofanimals.org/news/2012/january/public-comment-oppos.html

From the Wildlife News:

Peer Review concludes that Wyoming Gray Wolf Management Plan is Deficient

By On January 12, 2012

“Soliders displaying Wolf pelt at Soda Butte Creek patrol station, Yellowstone National Park, 1905”

Photos: Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Wyoming Wolves, Howling for Justice

Tags: Unregulated killing of wolves, Wyoming, wolves threatened, Wyoming wolf delisting

Published in: on January 4, 2012 at 5:39 pm  Comments (66)  
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