Howls For A Great 2015!!

The New Christmas Story & Commandents

Exposing the Big Game

by Marc Bedner & Rosemary Lowe

In the beginning the Great Felidæ said, “Let the Earth bring forth every kind of living creature. And we will make cats in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule.”

And it was foretold: the wolf & grizzly shall once again roam free, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and a little kitten shall lead them.

And it came to pass, after much begetting, that many cats had gone astray, and there was no room in the shelter. Then an angel of the Felidæ came to Mary and Joseph and said, “we need foster parents.” And she delivered to them a kitten wrapped in swaddling clothes.

And lo, three wise men came to bring gifts to the baby kitten and to worship her. The kitten had many titles: wonderful, counselor, princess of peace, Queen of Judæa. The wise men wondered…

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Happy Howling Holidays!

 

 

“She Wolf”

The story of Yellowstone’s O6 Female, the iconic Lamar Canyon Pack alpha, who was shot and killed  outside the park by a hunter, on December 6, 2012.

We all still mourn her and the thousands of unsung wolves who’ve been slaughtered since the wolf hunts began in 2009!

But this year we can give thanks that Wyoming and Great Lakes wolves are protected once again under the ESA. A tremendous Christmas gift for wolves, wolf advocates and all who value the natural world!

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O6 Female

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Video: YouTube: The Zone (Nat Geo)

Photo: Courtesy Treehugger (CC BY 2.0 Flickr)

Posted in: gray wolf, Yellowstone wolves, Wolf Wars, Biodiversity

Tags: Yellowstone wolves, Lamar Canyon pack alpha female, O6 Female, Rock Star, tragic loss, Wolf Wars, stop the wolf hunts, Nat Geo

To Montana and Idaho Wolves, You’re NOT Forgotten….

What better Christmas gift than to see Great Lakes Wolves relisted? First Wyoming and now Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. BUT the relisting, as tremendous as it is, came after Minnesota and Wisconsin wolf hunting “seasons” ended with 426 dead wolves. Both states went over-limit.

For Montana and Idaho wolves there is no reprieve!  As of today 229 wolves have been killed in their state hunts and the suffering is far from over. Montana’s hunt stretches to March 31, right through wolf breeding, denning and pupping season. Idaho’s wolf hunt is seemingly endless, with wolf hunts taking place on public or private land most of the year.

So remember what we’ve lost, what we’ve gained and during this Christmas season, as we rejoice over the relisting of the Great Lakes wolf population, remember Idaho and Montana wolves are still dying.

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    Montana Wolf Hell

http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/planahunt/huntingGuides/wolf

Idaho Wolf Hell

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/docs/rules/bgWolf.pdf

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Montana is a backward wolf massacre state

Opinion

The Billings Gazette

December 17, 2013 12:00 am

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Regarding allowing ranchers to kill perceived “threatening wolves” (Senate Bill 200): Montana policy wolf qualifies it, from wolf conservationists’ perspectives, as a backward wolf massacre state.

This attitude is evidenced by $19 tags for five wolves; not having a real quota; by having a trapping season beyond and through the hunting season; an attitude of “we need to drive down the population” without any science behind such thinking; an attitude of not holding the rancher responsible in any way for taking preventive, good husbandry, measures.

It is political management, not scientific management. Now it will be in evidence with a policy of allowing a rancher to kill a wolf “perceived” as a threat, which to a rancher and guests will likely mean any wolf seen, which will all equate to open season on wolves, with much of it on leased public land.

Wolves kill around 65 cattle annually in a state that has 5.5 million which is 0.001 percent. There are 3,776 leases on BLM land and 772 on national forest lands. Ranchers are reimbursed for losses. Oregon has a model for Montana, although Montana rule makers are too backward and obstinate to listen and learn. The Oregon wolf management model requires ranchers to have nonlethal deterrents in place and to have used them, and then only kill chronic offenders.

Wolves are not vermin. Wolves are apex predators that are good for wildlife ecology, having a positive cascading effect throughout the food chain versus ecological unhealthy man wildlife killing.

Roger Hewitt

Great Falls

http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/montana-is-a-backward-wolf-massacre-state/article_4125d0d7-2f81-53b8-be26-a95b9c59af7f.html

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Idaho’s Wolf-Killing Atrocity Continues

Posted: 03/24/2014 2:25 pm EDT Updated: 05/24/2014 5:59 am EDT

 When it comes to killing wolves, Idaho has an appetite that just can’t be sated.

State lawmakers just approved a bill that sets aside $400,000 to exterminate 500 wolves. Adding insult to injury, the bill takes management away from the state wildlife agency and places it in the hands of a “wolf depredation control board” that will consist solely of members appointed and overseen by Governor Butch Otter, who said in 2007 that he wanted to be the first to kill an Idaho wolf after federal protections were taken away.

Just a few months ago, Idaho sent a bounty hunter into the woods to wipe out two wolf packs and more recently announced plans to kill 60 percent of the wolves in another part of the state.

The slaughter continues and Idaho’s political leaders seem to bask in the carnage they’re leaving behind.

It’s exactly the kind of ugly behavior that we feared when Congress in 2011 stripped Endangered Species Act protections from wolves in the northern Rockies, where some 1,600 wolves have been killed since protections were lifted. And it’s clear, more mass killing is on the way.

This isn’t supposed to be happening. The United States worked for 40 years to return wolves to the American landscape. Canis lupus had been driven to the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states as settlement moved west, ranching moved in and government sponsored programs trapped, poisoned and shot wolves into oblivion.

The Endangered Species Act allowed wolves to begin recovery, at least in a few places like the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes states. After reintroductions in Yellowstone National Park and parts of Idaho, wolves came back. New packs formed. Families were built. Ecosystems, now with a keystone predator back in the mix, began to function like they had historically.

Politicians in Congress, though, pulled the plug and unceremoniously stripped federal protections. We were told that wolves could be responsibly managed by state wildlife agencies in places like Idaho.

Truth is, wolves are being persecuted in Idaho with the same kind of repulsive attitude that nearly drove them to extinction 100 years ago. Only now it’s happening under the official state flag.

And here’s where it gets worse: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now wants to take away federal protections for nearly all wolves in the lower 48 states. And, just like in 2011, we’re being told that wolves will be fine. They won’t be. Wolves today live in just five percent of their historic habitat.

Click HERE to read more

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Photo: FWS

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Endangered Species Act

Tags: Great Lakes wolves, relisted, Montana, Idaho, wolf killing states, wolf trapping, wolf hunting, ESA, wolf persecution

 

 

Victory! Wolves In The Great Lakes Back On The Endangered Species List!!

Federal judge: Great Lakes wolves return to endangered list

By John Flesher, Associated Press5:52 p.m. EST December 19, 2014

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A federal judge on Friday threw out an Obama administration decision to remove the gray wolf population in the western Great Lakes region from the endangered species list — a decision that will ban further wolf hunting and trapping in three states.

The order affects wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the combined population is estimated at around 3,700. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped federal protections from those wolves in 2012 and handed over management to the states.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday the removal was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated the federal Endangered Species Act.

Unless overturned, her decision will block the states from scheduling additional hunting and trapping seasons for the predators. All three have had at least one hunting season since protections were lifted, while Minnesota and Wisconsin also have allowed trapping.

More than 1,500 Great Lakes wolves have been killed since federal protections were removed, said Jonathan Lovvorn, senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, which filed a lawsuit that prompted Howell’s ruling.

“We are pleased that the court has recognized that the basis for the delisting decision was flawed, and would stop wolf recovery in its tracks,” Lovvorn said.

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Gavin Shire said the agency was disappointed and would confer with the U.S. Department of Justice and the states about whether to appeal.

“The science clearly shows that wolves are recovered in the Great Lakes region, and we believe the Great Lakes states have clearly demonstrated their ability to effectively manage their wolf populations,” Shire said. “This is a significant step backward.”

Wolf advocates applauded the ruling Friday.

“We filed the lawsuit to relist the Great Lakes population of wolves,” said Jill Fritz, coordinator of Michigan’s Humane Society of the United States. “It was based on the assertion that the Great Lakes states had proven they could not responsibly manage wolves when they were delisted in January 2012.”

Jodi Habush Sinykin, an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, which supports science-based wildlife management, said the decision should serve as a clear signal of caution to people who would destroy the nation’s wolves.

Minnesota Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr said agency attorneys will study the ruling before determining its effect on state wolf policy.

“On face value we’re very surprised. We didn’t even know it was coming to a conclusion here,” Landwehr said. “It’s an unusual turn of events.”

Lansing State Journal reporter Louise Knott Ahern contributed to this report.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2014/12/19/great-lakes-wolves-ordered-returned-endangered-list/20655023/

Click HERE to read the court’s decision!

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Posted in: Wolf Wars, endangered species act

Tags: Great Lakes Wolves Relisted, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Humane Society of America

 

On The Trail With Yellowstone’s Wild Bison….

It was a snowy March day in Yellowstone National Park, very cold. We hiked out of West Yellowstone and were lucky to briefly share the trail with several of  Yellowstone’s wild, free-roaming, bison. It was an honor to be in their presence, I hope you enjoy this short video.

Please support the Buffalo Field Campaign and the vital work they’re doing to protect and save America’s last genetically pure wild bison herd. They are in serious danger. Winter 2013/2014, 653 bison were slaughtered. Just this week a bull buffalo was killed by a Montana hunter. They need America’s help!

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Buffalo Field Campaign

Bison Threatened, Bighorn Dying in Gardiner Basin‏
* Update from the Field
* TAKE ACTION! Support ESA Listing for Wild Bison

Another bull buffalo was killed by a Montana hunter this week, bringing the total to five. One by one the buffalo migrate across Yellowstone’s boundary, and one by one they are killed. Once again, there is not a single wild buffalo in Montana. The current hunt is no more than an extermination program set up to satisfy livestock industry’s intolerance for this national icon.

Government agencies plan to kill 900 to 1,000 buffalo this season through hunting and slaughter. BFC and Friends of Animals Wildlife Law Program filed an emergency rule-making petition to stop the slaughter but the government has yet to respond. Mild weather has so far stemmed large migrations, keeping the larger population of buffalo alive for now.

Click HERE to visit their site and learn how you can help Yellowstone’s wild bison!

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Video: YouTube Nabeki

Photo: Nabeki

Posted in: Yellowstone’s Wild Free Roaming Bison, Biodiversity

Tags: Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Bison, Buffalo Field Campaign, Support ESA listing for Wild Bison

Where Are the Protests?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked myself this over the last 5 1/2 years. Wolf Warriors speaks out for wolves every day. Ann Sydow and I created Howl Across America to encourage people, from around the country, to be a voice for wolves, wherever they live. Howling For Justice has spoken out again and again, along with other grassroots groups, for a call to action, yet things have gotten worse. Although wolf protests have happened, the turnout is small. That doesn’t garner media attention. We need big numbers!

What will it take for Americans to wake up and truly commit to saving wolves? How many more thousands of wolves have to die? The wolf hunts roll on year after year. We must find a way to liberate them from this hell and stop listening to the compromisers, who only contribute to the status quo.

HOWL FOR THE WOLVES !

HOWL ACROSS AMERICA before it’s too late!

Exposing the Big Game

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Media Hype

Exposing the Big Game

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Wondrous Wolves…

Sleep my innocent, let angels watch you as you lay
And while in slumber harm will never come your way

On your journey may you dream away to freedom
So rest until the dawn when angels are reborn

Chorus:
Ley a-lua ley, a-lua ley-o
Ley a-lua ley a-lua ley

Knowing eyes reflecting good in all they may behold
Should rest that they allow their beauty to unfold

Harrowed mind that knows the inhumanities of mankind
May rest until the dawn when Angels are reborn

Chorus:
Ley a-lua ley, a-lua ley-o
Ley a-lua ley a-lua ley

By Miriam Stockley

Wolf Pups Snoozing

Video: Courtesy YouTube MereRana

Photo: Courtesy mythwallpaperdotcom

Posted in: gray wolf, biodiversity

Tags: Sweet Innocents,  Miriam Stockley, wolf pups, the beauty of wolves