From Center For Biological Diversity
For Immediate Release, November 24, 2014
Contact: Amy Atwood, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 504-5660
Laird Lucas, Advocates for the West, (208) 342-7024
Travis Bruner, Western Watersheds Project, (208) 720-5595
Camilla Fox, Project Coyote, (415) 690-0338
With Lawsuit Pending, Feds Cancel Idaho Predator-killing Derby
BOISE, Idaho —In response to a lawsuit from conservation groups, the Bureau of Land Management has decided to cancel a permit allowing an anti-wolf organization to conduct a “predator derby” on more than 3 million acres of public lands near Salmon, Idaho.
As lawyers for the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, Project Coyote and Defenders of Wildlife were preparing to file a request to stop this year’s derby on BLM lands, the agency decided to withdraw its decision to allow “Idaho for Wildlife” to conduct a contest to kill the most wolves, coyotes, and other species over three days every year for five years, beginning Jan. 2, 2015.
“We’re so glad that the deadly derby has been canceled this year,” said Amy Atwood, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, who represents the Center, Western Watersheds Project and Project Coyote. “These sort of ruthless kill-fests have no place in this century. We intend to pursue every available remedy to stop these horrible contests.”
News of BLM’s decision came from an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing the BLM in the groups’ litigation, who conveyed the news just as attorneys for the groups were preparing to file a major brief to stop this year’s hunt.
“BLM’s first-ever approval of a wolf hunting derby on public lands undercuts wolf recovery efforts, so it’s good they cancelled this permit,” said Laird Lucas, director of litigation at Advocates for the West, which represents Defenders of Wildlife.
The hunt would have allowed up to 500 participants compete to kill the largest number of wolves, coyotes and other animals for cash and prizes. Contest organizers are hoping to expand their contest statewide.
“It’s hard to imagine a more objectionable event than an award-laden killing festival,” said Travis Bruner, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. “Let’s all hope that this is the beginning of the end of such activities.”
Wolves were removed from the endangered species list in 2011 following many years of recovery efforts in central and eastern Idaho, where public lands are supposed to provide core refugia in the face of aggressive hunting and trapping in Idaho.
“Killing wildlife for fun and prizes on public lands that belong to all Americans is not only reprehensible, it is also a violation of the Public Trust Doctrine and contravenes Idaho Fish and Game’s policy condemning killing contests as unethical and ecologically unsound,” said Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of Project Coyote. “It is high time the BLM acknowledges that wildlife killing contests are not an acceptable ‘use’ of public lands.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 800,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Western Watersheds Project works to protect and restore public lands and wildlife in the West through education, public policy initiatives and legal advocacy.
Project Coyote (ProjectCoyote.org) is a national non-profit organization promoting compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through education, science, and advocacy. Join our community on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/wildlife-killing-contest-11-24-2014.htm
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Idaho Predator Derby Canceled on Federal Land
Posted by Jessica Murri Nov 25, 2014 at 11:07 am
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Photo: Courtesy Wiki
Posted in: Wolf Wars, Biodiversity
Tags: CBD, Advocates for the West, Western Watersheds Project, Project Coyote, BLM, Predator Killing Contest cancelled on Federal Land
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 
On the eve of Thanksgiving (almost), what wonderful news and a development to be most thankful for!
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The event is NOT cancelled despite what the incorrect headline says. The Derby will go on according to organizers – using Forest Service and private lands. It’s too bad this headline has misinformed so many people.
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First,
I want to quote Aldo Leopold:
“[P]redators are members of [our -MM] community, and . . . no special interest has the right to exterminate them for the sake of a benefit, real or fancied, to itself.”
Now,
I want again to address each and every one of you who come to this website:
I believe that you value wolves:
as individuals who have a right to life, with emotions, who can feel pain and suffering, have families and others for whom they feel affection and loss,
and who give them the most pleasure in life (these assertions are all visibly backed by observation and research),
and they constitute a group, a nation, as it were, indigenous to this their continent.
Because you value them, it is up to YOU to support your values, to reframe the values and politics in terms of your beliefs.
Present management NOWHERE reflects your beliefs and values, nor does it anywhere reflect the values or beliefs of the vast majority of US citizens:
80% of us (and this percentage reflects accurately the position of citizens of Arizona and New Mexico, and from over 2/3 to 4/5 of citizens of Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, even Idaho) believe that the wolf has a right to live, a place in the community of this nation. This is a larger majority than any interest group or political party.
It’s necessary to change the failure of state, regional, and national management agencies, politicians, to reflect this vast majority of you, the public,
and to help change perceptions molded by the inaccurate self-representation of self-interest groups such as Cattlemen’s associations, hunting lobbies, American Farm Bureau Federation, and other corrupt organizations using inaccurate information about wolves to advance unrelated agendas of preventing regulation of their public lands, destructive-to-wildlife activities.
In order to gain greater understanding by politicians and management agencies, that your values and support for the wolf are paramount and held by the vast majority, you yourself have to explore the increasing information known about animal cognition, & behavioral science, enlarge your personal experience (for those of you who have not experienced wolves, captive in numerous places from Ely, MN, to CO, WA, NY, Julian, and other places in CA, and of course, importantly, in the wild.
Familiarise yourself more fully with the sophisticated work done in the past by Defenders of Wildlife, HSUS, others, including the antiwolf groups, on attempts to change wolf management, with an eye to marginalise the haters and killers.
Collaborate to make life possible for the wolf, by all means, getting to know people who believe and value differently than you, BUT,
Work to develop more committed, passionate allies, a more active public (remember, 80%!) who are not now passionate, but who can be (many or most domestic animal welfare groups and people can become more committed).
Work to improve politicians, creating values more reflective of yours and at least of that 80%
Familiarise yourself and others with ALL biologists’ and ecologists’ points of view.
Some of us represent the values of indigenous peoples, because we are related to them, and we ALL should discover, respect, and learn more about the ways of thinking that respect the wolf as vital member of this community I mention.
Whatever your own beliefs, learn the teaching stories about the wolf. There are many; you may find that that wisdom reflects the incipient wisdom and care which you feel. It will help you form coherence.
I speak for Wolf, and I thank every one of you. You are very important to each of us. You are important to all who live.
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Good work.
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There is hope for animal diversity and peaceful co-existance with the natural world, Thank you!
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I don’t think there are any wolves left in Idaho to go and have a killing fest….
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I’ve noticed the Idaho wolf hunt and trapping numbers are behind Wisconsin. I think they’ve decimated wolves in Idaho. The wolves there are barely hanging on, especially since there is a wolf hunt somewhere in the state year round.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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This is good news – many of us have been on the bLM to cancel this for months, and their recent decision to allow must have brought many more.
While this is temporary good news, expect the incoming legislatures to use all insidious ways to kill wolves: especially in Idaho, where the welfare ranchers pretty much own the place, in spite of that “state” being largely federal (your) land.
Now, before getting too relaxed about having “won” something, allow me to direct your attention to Alaska, where the state corrupted by the huge trophy hunting industry, is trying to get access to National Park managed lands, for its equally psychotic wolf-killing segment.
The most important way YOU can affect government policy on wolves is through citizen comment on proposals at regulations.gov:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NPS-2014-0004-0001
You can comment in support of retaining the National Park mission:
“The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”
allowing killing of native species for the purposes of enlarging populations of “sport” or subsistence hunted animals outside of Yukon Charlie Preserve and Denali NP does NOT contribute to that mission, but would be a destructive policy counter to this great conservation intent.
Please go to the site and comment BEFORE December 3rd.
Thank you!
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I submitted my comment on the link you provided. Thank you.
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Predator derby? Ye gods, that’s incredible! What is this the 1700s? I would have hoped we’d have left federally sanctioned blood sports long ago. I figured we grew brains after the buffalo slaughter.
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Sadly heroesnpirates, predator derbies go on all over the country, not necessarily wolves but other predators, specifically the very persecuted coyote, bobcats, foxes, etc. It’s a national disgrace.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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By the way, thanks for caring and for the great site!
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heroesnpirates….You’re welcome, many howls to you!
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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What a great news !!!! A huge thanks to all the people, lawyers who did every effort to stopped the killing, I feel we have more to celebrate this Thanksgiving!!
Happy thanksgiving everyone!!!;)
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Awesome news!
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YAY!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!!
SUPER- HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
EVERY VICOTORY MOVES US FORWARD AND GIVES MORE LIFE and FREEDOM FOR OUR WOLVES!
GOD BLESS!!
THANK YOU HFJ and BLESSINGS TO ALL THE WOLVES and WILDLIFE!
SUPER YAY!!
🙂
🙂
🙂
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Reblogged this on Mind Chatter and commented:
Finally! Some good news for our wolves and coyotes.
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It hasn’t gone unnoticed that last year’s derby was held around the Christmas/New Year’s holidays – well, cramping their style is for Thanksgiving this year. Happy Thanksgiving!
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A very big THANK YOU to all who helped this become a reality!! God bless your efforts and your compassion!!
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About time. Hunting out of helicopters with a 223 is not hunting. This was a total disgrace to Hunters everywhere and it is no wonder why people keep trying to take our guns away.
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It feels like it is too good to be true. I am very relieved, but the psycho hatred of the Idaho “for” Wildlife bunch makes me feel like this isn’t the end of it. They are hatred-fueled sadists, you know.
But for now, I’m celebrating!
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Good. Wildlife have enough problems in their daily lives without humans adding to them. If you want to shoot something: use a camera. It shows more reverence for life and takes more work/skill to get that perfect moment on film.
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Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game and commented:
One reader shared this reacting from the anti-wolfer’s side https://www.facebook.com/groups/IdahoForWildlife/:
“The decision by the BLM to withdraw our permit will not stop the coyote and wolf hunt. We cannot dictate where people hunt. We will follow the same procedure as we did last year and require hunters during registration to sign a waiver stating that any wolf or coyote taken on BLM land will not qualify for the derby. The BLM at the DC level has become too politically influenced and motivated. The idea that they would require a full blown NEPA analysis including an Environmental assessment for only 100-150 hunters to cover over 3 million acres is absurd and ridiculous.” They go on to state that there will still be cash prizes for the most coyotes and wolves taken and that proceeds will go to some poor welfare rancher…
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WILL THEY NEVER LEARN. JUST LET THEM BE ALREADY. THE WORSE THING ABOUT THE CAMERA IS THE WOLVES GET USED TO HUMANS AND THEN WE KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT. I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY ARE POSTING THEIR ROUTES. AND THE THOUGHT OF HUNTERS USING THE RADIO FREQUENCIES AND HELICOPTERS WHILE USING MILITARY GRADE RIFLES TO KILL OFF WHOLE PACKS IS JUST DOWNRIGHT DISGUSTING! IF IT WERE NOT FOR BEING A MODERN RICH MAN’S HELICOPTER THE VIDEO WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE IT WAS FROM A VIET-NAM MOVIE.
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would love to share this on facebook – please fix your facebook link to be able to share it!
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Reblogged this on Ann Novek–With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors.
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I am so happy for the wild ones who are now spared this abomination. I love The Center for Biological Diversity and everyone else who helps to protect the wild earth. Thanks Nabeki. Bright Blessings!
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Victory for wolves and coyotes! Except… won’t the killing contest still be held on private lands? We need to stop that too! But still, this is great news, and at least the predators on public lands will be safe for now.
And did you hear? California just banned Coyote Killing Contests, along with all other prize-rewarding wildlife/nongame hunting events! You can read about this major victory here: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ban-prizes-for-coyote-hunting-20141203-story.html
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