It’s groundhog day in wolf country, a grisly scenario playing out over and over in each wolf state. The Michigan state Senate passed SB 135o on Thursday, which designates wolves as game animals, moving them one step closer to public hunts. The bill will now be shuttled to the state House for a vote. So much for Michigan being reasonable on wolves. The same trophy hunting crowd, who rammed through wolf hunts in Minnesota and Wisconsin, are alive and well in Michigan.
“Michigan moved a step closer to letting hunters target gray wolves Thursday, when the state Senate voted to designate the predator as a game species.
The bill was approved on a 23-15 vote and sent to the House, where a similar measure is pending. It doesn’t guarantee that wolf hunts will be allowed but authorizes the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, whose seven members are appointed by the governor, to establish seasons.
Wolves were shot, trapped and poisoned to near extinction in the lower 48 states in the last century but have rebounded in the Upper Midwest and Northern Rockies since receiving protection under federal and state law. “….Ann Arbor.com
But history be damned, wolf hating mania is in full force. When Ken Salazar and the USFWS turned Great Lakes wolves over to the states, they signed the animals death warrants. The wolf states are not interested in wildlife watchers, wolf advocates or Native Americans who oppose the hunts. We’ve watched the dominoes fall for the last three and half years. First Montana and Idaho, then Wisconsin, Minnesota and Wyoming, now Michigan is clamoring for wolf blood.
Montana and Idaho wolves were the first to be railroaded, sacrificed for Senator Tester’s (D-MT) reelection. This is the third wolf hunt held in the two states. Not only are the hunts in Montana and Idaho becoming more brutal with each passing year but Montana is moving ahead with wolf trapping for the first time, starting on December 15.
There is no reason to hold public wolf hunts. Hundreds of wolves are killed every year by Wildlife Services for agribusiness. The truth is wolves are being killed because the federal government turned them over to their mortal enemies, the state fish and game agencies. Wolves are being killed because the states were given permission to slaughter them.
We have to get serious about pushing for federal legislation to relist wolves. We can’t just sit here and watch the slaughter take place and spend our days counting wolf corpses.
Wolf hunts wipe out 555 wolves in just 3 months!!
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Michigan Senate takes step toward allowing wolf hunts
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two six-month-old Mexican gray wolf pups have reunited with their troubled pack in southwestern New Mexico, bringing some relief to environmentalists who were concerned about their chances for survival.
Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say the Fox Mountain pack — including the two pups — was spotted feeding on an elk carcass late last week.
“One of only 60 wild species of her kind, the Fox Mountain Mexican wolf, wanted for allegedly killing several cows in New Mexico has been trapped and removed from the wild by Federal wildlife managers. WildEarth Guardians requested public records in conjunction with her removal, and received 682 blacked out pages, of the 870 pages received. We maintain this is public information and the federal government must account for the capture and incarceration of the Fox Mountain Loba. We will appeal Wildlife Services’ redacted responseand are calling for a Congressional investigation into the agency’s behavior.”
Meanwhile the Fox Mountain alpha female remains separated from her family.
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A little wolf pup calls to its family, Oregon’s Snake River pack and they howl back. It’s a beautiful example of the strong bond wolves share. While this little pup has the support of his pack-mates it sadly reminds me of the Fox Mountain wolf pups, wandering the Gila National forest alone, separated from their pack. After their mother was ripped from them and placed in captivity, the pack splintered. Now the pups are in danger of starving to death.
Oregon Umatilla River wolf pack pups -August 2012
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Oregon Wenaha wolf pack pups, May 2012
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Video: Courtesy ODFW
Photo: Courtesy ODFW
Posted in: gray wolves, biodiversity
Tags: Snake Mountain wolf pack, pups howl to pack, wolves strong bonds, Oregon wolves, Oregon Umatilla River wolf pack, Wenaha wolf pack, WildEarth Guardians sues, Fox Mountain Alpha female removed from the wild
Lay down sweet wolf, you are released from your pain
Your killers dance on your corpse but will never possess your spirit, for they are empty vessels with black hearts
Because they cannot outwit you they use the cowards way to lure you with traps and distress calls
We will not forget the pain and suffering they’ve caused you and your family
Your life will not go unremembered or unheralded
You are loved by millions who continue to fight for your right to live in peace, wild and free
Our hearts are heavy but there is a brighter day coming for you
Sleep now sweet wolf, you are beyond your pain, they can’t touch you now, you rest in the arms of angels
DEDICATED TO ALL THE FALLEN WOLVES,
Nabeki
November 21, 2012
I’m not an environmentalist. I’m an Earth warrior. ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990
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Photo: Romeo Sweet Romeo, Courtesy John Hyde
Video: YouTube, It’s in our nature
Posted in: Wolf Wars
Tags: love of wolves, for the fallen, a brighter day, sleep now, black hearts, empty vessels, devoid of empathy, Romeo, Montana wolves, Idaho wolves, Minnesota wolves, Wisconsin wolves, Wyoming wolves
UPDATE: The video is back up, shared under the Fair Use Doctrine. Thank you WE VOW!
UPDATE: November 19, 2012
Well that didn’t take long, the user took down not just this video but other wolf trapping videos. Does that mean trappers want to hide what they do, so we don’t see the cruelty? I think we all know the answer to that.
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This is what state management of wolves has brought to this iconic species.
This is not exclusive to Wisconsin, wolves are being trapped in Minnesota, Wyoming and Idaho. Montana wolf trapping follows on December 15.
A beautiful wolf was trapped and killed for nothing. Trapping is banned in 89 countries yet we’ve allowed fish and game agencies to hijack our wildlife and legalize this torture for the benefit of a few.
If the video upsets you, if it bothers you to see an animal imprisoned in a leg hold trap, pacing in fear, unable to defend itself, then shot while laughter rings out as the wolf is dying…please don’t just lament the wolf’s death, get active to see that wolves regain their Endangered Species Protections!!
Share this post with everyone you know. Spread the word. Don’t let this wolf die in vain.
Contact the Wisconsin DNR 1-800-847-9367
HOWL ACROSS AMERICA!!
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Born Free USA Releases Details of Trapping Investigation
Unprecedented Video and Photographs Show Brutality and Illegal Practices by U.S. Trappers, Including Images of Trapped Animals in New Mexico
To be delivered to: The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama
Petition Statement
President Obama and his Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, a Colorado rancher, have adopted unjust and heartless “tea party” policies towards America’s wolves. And the U.S. Congress is equally guilty in this ecological and ethical injustice. Wolves are highly intelligent, native, and vital natural predators that belong on the land. Too many brutish ranchers and misguided hunters have unfairly demonized and maligned wolves for centuries. An American majority wants an end to demonization and massacre of America’s wolves and other native wildlife.
To be delivered to: The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama
Petition Statement
We, the people of the United States of America, supported the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which protected animals through a legitimate scientific process. That process was upheld and protected via the courts. The rider that stripped wolves from the ESA is unpatriotic, was not supported by most Americans, caves in to special lobbying anti wolf extremists, and is unscientific. It is outrageous that the rider that stripped wolves of their ESA protections went against public support, the courts, and the intent of Congress in implementing the ESA. It is extremely disturbing that the rider also prevents any review by the courts of the so-called “wolf management plans” that are calling for killing up to 60% of our wolves in the first year. It is disgusting that these animals will be trapped, poisoned and shot on sight, even in our national wild lands. I call on our Congress to rescind the ESA rider and to restore wolves to their rightful place on the Endangered Species List.
Idaho opened their second wolf trapping season yesterday. Wolves in Idaho now face more pain, suffering and brutality.
Warning graphic Video
A helpless, struggling wolf is shot while caught in a leg-hold trap. Can it get more cowardly than this? Some trappers stomp and strangle wolves to death to preserve the “pelt”. This video was uploaded December 23, 2011, on YouTube by someone called wolfkillr. This is the ugly face of trapping. I know it’s hard to watch but America needs to see the brutality and the evil that is trapping. Can you imagine the fear this wolf experienced?
Idaho Says “Make It Hurt!” forbidanimalcruelty.com
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NIWA (Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance) was in Coeur d’ alene yesterday protesting the opening of wolf trapping season in Idaho.
My good friend, Ann Sydow brought her beautiful Plott Hound Boomer as a Canis lupus familiaris ambassador, standing up for his wolf brothers.
Iconic environmental activist, Captain Paul Watson, explains why passion is more important to him than experience, when he selects volunteers to join the fight to save whales.
As a wolf advocate I wholeheartedly embrace Captain Watson’s philosophy.
Hold onto your passion, wear it as a badge of honor, let your warrior spirit drive you on!
Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things……Denis Diderot, French philosopher.
“Gloria Skinaway of the Sandy Lake Reservation holds a sign at a protest against the Minnesota wolf hunt at Lake Superior Plaza in downtown Duluth, Minn., Friday afternoon, Sept. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Clint Austin)”
November 12, 2012
379 wolves have died in the combined hunts since August 30, 2012. Minnesota has been particularly brutal, killing 119 wolves in just 10 days.
This doesn’t surprise me, the state has been moving away from their reasonable position on wolves for some time now. Minnesota’s US Democrat Senators, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, are not wolf fans.
When Minnesota Wildlife Services funding, to trap and kill wolves, was cut in 2011, Senator Al Franken didn’t waste any time writing to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack imploring him to restore monies to the wolf kill program.
Minnesota Wildlife Services kills approx. 200 wolves each and every year for agribusiness It’s been going on for decades, while wolves were still protected under the ESA. This happens in all the wolf states, their dirty little secret. That’s why public wolf hunts are not needed. Wildlife Services kills hundreds of wolves annually. Americans are not aware wolves are now facing two hunts in Minnesota, one conducted by WS and the “legal wolf hunts” I like to call “Killing Wolves For Fun and Profit”.
When writing to Secretary Vilsack, Senator Franken pulled out all the stops, stating ” this larger gray wolf population means additional threats to Minnesota citizens and livestock are possible”even though wolves are not attacking people in Minnesota or anywhere else for that matter in the lower 48. Click here to read Franken’s letter.
In all of North America, in the last ninety years, wild wolves have been accused of just two controversial, un-witnessed fatal attacks. Yet hunting accidents claim the lives of nearly ONE HUNDRED INNOCENT PEOPLE EVERY YEAR in the US and Canada and wound a 1000 more. 216 adults and children have been mauled to death by domestic dogs since 2005 and millions have been bitten but that’s not even close to the damage caused by Bambi:
“The most dangerous mammal in North America is…Bambi. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that white-tailed deer kill around 130 Americans each year simply by causing car accidents. In 1994, these predator deer had a banner year, causing 211 human deaths in car wrecks.
There are about 1.5 million deer/vehicle collisions annually, resulting in 29,000 human injuries and more than $1 billion in insurance claims in addition to the death toll. Deer also carry the ticks that transmit Lyme disease to about 13,000 people each year. Economic damage to agriculture, timber, and landscaping by deer totals more than $1.2 billion a year.”…reason.com
Where is the outrage over these deaths? Should we have a domestic dog hunting season? (Of course not!) What about the hundreds of deaths caused by hunting accidents? Yet many hunters are the very people accusing wolves of attacking children at bus stops, when these shy animals are doing no such thing. In Oregon an eleven year old boy was put in terrible danger, not by a wolf but a hunter who accidently shot him while the child was waiting AT A SCHOOL BUS STOP!
In 2011 the Minnesota legislature removed the 5 year moratorium on wolf hunts that had been part of the state wolf plan for years. That cleared the way for an almost immediate hunt, once wolves were delisted by the Obama administration’s USFWS.
Minnesota had been the state people looked to and admired concerning wolves but that image has been badly tarnished by the actions of their state legislature, US Senators, Minnesota DNR and trophy hunters. The state has turned a blind eye to Minnesotans who support wolves, including Native Americans, most of whom vehemently oppose the hunt.
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Amy Klobuchar declares war on wolves
By Mike Mullen
Wed., Oct. 5 2011 at 3:51 PM
Amy Klobuchar is substantive, smart, hard-working, avoids controversy, rarely makes a public verbal misstep — save for the vaguely northern accent, she’s sort of the anti-Sarah Palin. But now Minnesota’s respectable senator has revealed what she has in common with Alaska’s inescapable former governor: An insatiable thirst for wolf blood.
In anticipation of the federal delisting of gray wolves, the Minnesota state legislature passed a wolf management bill in 2000 and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) completed a Wolf Management Plan in 2001. Minnesota statutes were amended in 2011 to change the state status of wolves to a small game species and provide the ability to authorize a season without a five year waiting period. Please see below for details on the state’s management plan.
I don’t have to tell you how bad things are for wolves, the hunt-death toll says it all. 341 wolves wiped out in just 73 days. Wolves are under an unprecedented attack, five wolf hunts in progress with Michigan chomping at the bit to join the fray.
Three and a half years ago wolves were delisted by the Obama administration and his pal, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It’s been downhill ever since. Our only victory came in August 2010 when Judge Molloy relisted wolves in the Northern Rockies.
It would be easy to quit, to ask why am I bothering to fight when we’re losing so badly? The answer is clear, for the wolves. We’re all they have, their only voice. We can’t allow the injustice perpetrated against them to go unanswered.
We’ve lost many battles but with strategy, perseverance and lots of hard work we can prevail. I can’t predict how long it will take or when it will happen but I believe strongly we’ll win this fight.
The only way to stay sane and keep battling is to focus on the big picture. Wolves must be relisted and regain their ESA protections. That should be our over-arching goal, everything else is secondary. Please don’t spend your time arguing with wolf haters on FB or hunting forums. It saps energy, its demoralizing and it’s time lost you could be spending helping wolves. The wolf haters feed on it, they love to argue and spew their hate against wolves and wolf advocates. Don’t take the bait. I’ve received thousands of hateful comments on this blog, here’s one posted today:
you are a bunch of fuckin idiots. stay in california
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Needless to say it went straight to the spam folder. You won’t see these comments unless I decide to post them just to show the ignorance and hate we’re up against and believe me its legion.
I don’t have the time or inclination to argue that wolves deserve to exist. Don’t get caught in that trap. Be aware of what the other side is doing but engaging them in endless arguments is pointless.
If we want to focus on the negative there’s plenty to look at. Wolves are being decimated in Idaho and Montana. With the third wolf hunt, the brutality has escalated exponentially. There are no quotas and for the first time Montana will allow wolf trapping. Wolves can run from guns and maybe even arrows but they can’t escape leg-hold traps and snares.
Idaho started trapping wolves last year and has expanded the wolf hunt year round. The Lolo and Selway zones are open for hunting 10 months of the year, ending June 30, right through breeding, denning and pupping season. Last year, as soon as the Lolo/Selway horror ended, Idaho opened a wolf hunt in the Panhandle on private land, while wolves were trying to raise their pups. Is this the sound management the states promised? Absolutely not. And who do we have to blame? The US Senate, who rammed through the delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies on a budget/wolf rider, with President Obama signing the bill into law.
In their first wolf hunt, Wisconsin planned to use up to six dogs per hunter to chase wolves to their deaths but a judge issued a temporary injunction to stop the use of dogs, after a court challenge. BUT a hearing is scheduled on December 20th to re-visit the issue.
Wyoming finally got their way and can now kill wolves 365 days a year in the “predator zone” which encompasses over 85% of the state. No license needed, any killing method is allowed, including poison. The only requirement is to report a wolf death within ten days, do you think the majority of people who kill wolves for fun will even bother to report the death? At the same time Wyoming is conducting a trophy hunt with a quota of 52 wolves, right outside the borders of Yellowstone. Montana’s hunt encompasses Yellowstone’s northern border. Yellowstone wolves, already hit hard by mange, are now virtually living on an island, with wolf hunts wiping out wolves who could have provided park wolves with much need genetic diversity.
Minnesota hunters have killed 91 wolves in ONE WEEK.
Untold suffering is being perpetrated against wolves who are highly social animals. Hunting and killing them is fracturing bonds and wrecking havoc among wolf families. Where are the biologists to decry this slaughter? All we’re getting from them is this:
Ed Bangs (former Wolf Recovery Coordinator) in a 2000 Nova Online interview, characterized the strong bonds wolf families share.
“A wolf’s territory represents the place where their family lives and where they’re safe. If you’re in your pack’s territory, you have a family to help defend you, to care for you, to share food with you. Wolves are the parents, the mothers, the fathers, the brothers and sisters that we always hoped we could be. I mean there’s extreme loyalty among family members, it’s everything to them.”
Wolf hunters and state game agencies don’t care anything about that. A wolf’s life is cheap now, sold for the price of a hunting tag. It’s pointless to try and reason or bargain with the states that are killing wolves, it’s a win/win situation for them. They keep their customers happy (hunters) and fill their state coffers with wolf tag money.
I know it’s hard to go on when you see the carnage building, the endless photos of smiling, grinning trophy hunters posing with their wolf corpses.
I’ve been grieving since the first wolf hunts began in the fall of 2009 BUT instead of turning that grief inward I use it as a motivator to fight for the animals I love. I’m working on a project with other wolf advocates we believe will make a difference for wolves.
No matter what, we have to keep battling for these amazing animals. Whatever you can do in your own life to improve the situation for wolves, please do it. I’ve discussed the poor organization of the grass-roots wolf movement many times, that has to change. The opposition is well-organized and flush with cash. Expressing your outrage but doing nothing is not helping wolves. You have to commit to making a difference. Whether it’s organizing a protest, handing out fliers, writing op-eds, utilizing social media or connecting with other wolf advocates, be creative.
Many times people have told me they can’t make a protest rally because it’s too far away. That shouldn’t stop you, organize one in your home town. Create a wolf advocacy group, there’s power in numbers. We are the majority, remember that. Wolves have been hijacked by a small, vocal minority. Hunters are just 12% of the population and they have no right to kill America’s wolves for sport. Wildlife watchers voices go unheard. We’ve been pushed to the sidelines while millions of our native wildlife are slaughtered in the name of “sport”. Killing defenseless wildlife, who can’t fight back and have no idea what’s coming, isn’t sport.
“Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they’re in the game.”….Paul Rodriquez
Sometimes things have to get really bad before they get better. Being a wolf advocate will not win you any awards, you will go to bed most nights with a heavy heart but we are making a difference. So hold your head high and never give in. Focus on the big picture and don’t allow yourself to be dragged down.
We will win this for the wolves!!
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn”….Harriet Beecher Stowe
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A View To A Kill
How Safari Club Int’l Works To Weaken ESA Protections
By Michael Satchell The Humane Society of the United States 11-25-03
This blog is dedicated to the memory of Wolf 253, the beloved Yellowstone Druid wolf named Limpy, who was shot and killed in March 08, on the very day ESA protections were lifted for the gray wolf, by the then Bush Administration.
Previous Posts
Speak For Wolves – Yellowstone 2015
Petitions To Sign
Protect America's Wolves! Click To Sign Petition
RELIST WOLVES - Click To Sign
STOP THE TORTURE OF WOLVES IN OUR FORESTS - Click To Sign!
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
Howling For Justice 