ACTION ALERT: Stop The Delisting Of The Yellowstone Grizzly – Last Day To Comment!

May 10, 2016

MAY 10th IS THE LAST DAY TO COMMENT!

HAVE YOU COMMENTED YET?

The USFWS is pushing to delist the Yellowstone grizzly bears. It’s obvious why they’re doing this. Trophy hunters are itching for a grizzly bear hunt to satisfy their blood lust and ego’s and the USFWS is perfectly happy to make their dreams come true.  Please don’t allow this to happen.

They’re not just after grizzlies in the Yellowstone ecosystem but Montana is already pushing for the delisting of all grizzly bears, specifically the great bear population in Northwest Montana. Please take a moment and speak out for this iconic species. They are voiceless, we must speak for them!

Follow the link to the USFWS comment page and stand up for the grizzly bear. Points to make:

1. Grizzly bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates of any large mammal. That’s because grizzly mothers keep their cubs with them for up to three years. It takes a long time to learn how to be a successful grizzly bear. This means any grizzly bear hunts could quickly decimate their population.

2. Grizzly bears are not recovered across their historic range.

3. Yellowstone grizzlies would be sitting ducks since they are habituated to people. The most famous female grizzly alive, iconic mother grizzly bear number 399, would be threatened by the delisting.

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The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Proposed Rule: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Removing the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Population of Grizzly Bears from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

https://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FWS-R6-ES-2016-0042-0001

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You Can Write a Comment that Helps Save the Grizzly

by Rick Lamplugh

 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wants to strip Endangered Species Act protection from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear. We have only until May 10 to comment on the FWS proposal.

 

For our comments to be most effective, they should present reasons that show delisting is not a scientifically sound idea. A comment that simply says, “Don’t delist the grizzly!” may be heartfelt, but it will not carry much weight with the FWS. A comment that challenges specific FWS reasons for delisting will be more effective.

 

Below you will find nine claims that FWS has made to support delisting. After each claim, you will find a short explanation from a scientist or conservation agency on why the claim is not valid. 

 

I have collected this information and posted it here so that you can use it to make your comment effective. Pick one or two or all nine of these reasons and craft a comment using your own words. Your comment doesn’t have to be a work of art, it just needs to address the flawed science behind the delisting.

 

If you have other reasons that show grizzly delisting is not scientifically supported, please add them here by writing a comment to this blog. 

READ MORE:

http://ricklamplugh.blogspot.com/2016/04/you-can-write-comment-that-helps-save.html

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Montana outlines specifics of possible grizzly hunt

• By BRETT FRENCH french@billingsgazette.com
• Updated May 6, 2016

http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/montana-outlines-specifics-of-possible-grizzly-hunt/article_a01c769c-9f33-5bc1-b514-0e6d42c98f53.html

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Yellowstone grizzly bears face end of endangered species protection

US federal government says recovery of national park population to more than 700 is a ‘historic success’ but conservationists say move is premature

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/03/yellowstone-grizzly-bears-face-end-of-endangered-species-protection

 

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Posted in: Action Alert, Grizzly Bear, Howling For Justice

Top Photo: USFWS

Middle Photo: Courtesy Rick Lamplugh

Middle Photo: NPS

Bottom Photo: Courtesy  Finnish photographer Lassi Rautiainen

 Tags: Please comment, delisting of Yellowstone grizzlies, USFWS, trophy hunters want to kill bears, Montana, Wyoming

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ACTION ALERT: Wild Horses Sent To Brutal Mexican Slaughterhouses….

Wild horses are being slaughtered under BLM management. The BLM sold 1795 wild horses to a known kill buyer by the name of Tom Davis, who BTW has ties to ex Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Remember him, he and Obama delisted wolves in Montana and Idaho in 2009.

Davis admitted that most of the wild horses he purchased from the BLM were sent to Mexican slaughterhouses, which are incredibly brutal.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

Horse Slaughter In Mexico

http://video.humanesociety.org/press/video.php?bctid=973170356001&channel=973092891001

This is the agency we’ve entrusted the care of our “supposedly protected” wild horses to. Many wild horses have blood lines dating back to Cortez, now lost forever.

For anyone who has ever owned horses you know they have a prey animal mentality. Their natural instinct is to flee danger. Can you imagine the fear and suffering these animals experienced as they were led to their deaths, having their throats slit in a savage way. It makes me physically ill to even think about it.

This kill buyer should be prosecuted. Why is he still walking around with no charges brought against him? Why is the BLM getting away with their egregious negligence? They should NOT be managing the nation’s wild horses, it’s obvious they could care less about them.

Action needs to be taken! Wild horse numbers are dwindling fast. They are continually rounded up and sent to BLM holding facilities, where many languish. But in this case their home was a Mexican slaughterhouse.

Wild horses should be running free, that was the purpose of the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act. 

“The act provides specific protections to “all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands of the United States,”^[2] and makes it a crime for anyone to harass or kill these animals on federal land. It requires the departments of the Interior and Agriculture to protect the animals.”

There are almost a 100 million cattle in this country, trampling all over our public and private lands. Yet there is no room for a few thousand wild horses?

Please contact the BLM and let them know what you think about their negligence. These horses belong to all Americans. We are their only voice. Please take action.

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BLM Washington Office
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665
Washington DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242
director@blm.gov

Director: Neil Kornze
Deputy Director (Operations): Steven A. Ellis
Deputy Director (Policy): Linda Lance
Chief of Staff: Jon Raby (Acting)

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Washington, DC contact

krauss@blm.gov

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BLM Colorado 

Front Range District Office

3028 East Main Street
Cañon City, Colorado 81212
719-269-8500
FAX 719-269-8599
District Manager: Tom Heinlein

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BLM illegally sold thousands of wild horses for slaughter: report

By Kellan Howell – The Washington Times – Saturday, October 24, 2015

The Bureau of Land Management, the agency tasked with protecting wild horses and cattle and their grazing lands, sold 1,794 federally-protected wild horses to a Colorado rancher who sent them to slaughter, a new report confirmed. 

Between 2009 and 2012, rancher Tom Davis purchased the horses through the agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Program (WH&B) and wrongfully sent them to slaughter, according to the report from the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General. According to the allegations and news reports, Mr. Davis also had farming and trucking connections with former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. 

 “We determined that BLM did not follow current law while managing WH&B. BLM also failed to follow its own policy of limiting horse sales and ensuring that the horses sold went to good homes and were not slaughtered,” investigators wrote in the report. 

Mr. Davis admitted that most of the horses that he purchased through the BLM went to slaughter.

He told investigators that “in selling so many loads of horses, BLM had to know that the horses would end up at the slaughterhouse.” 

The wrongful sale also cost taxpayers $140,000 to deliver truckloads of horses to Mr. Davis. He paid $10 a piece for the horses, or less than $18,000 total, and made as much as $154,000 in profits by selling them for slaughter, according to the report. 

BLM employees never attempted to verify the information that Mr. Davis provided regarding his intentions for the horses he bought, despite the unusually large number of horses being sold to him, investigators wrote. The agency also did not stop selling horses to Mr. Davis after receiving reports that he was sending the horses to slaughter. 

The OIG declined to investigate Mr. Davis‘ ties to Mr. Salazar.

The investigation was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado as well as the State of Colorado Conejos County District Attorney’s Office, which declined civil and criminal prosecution, according to the report.

“It took more than three years for the OIG to confirm what we’ve always known – that the BLM sold 1,795 federally-protected wild horses to a known kill buyer who sold them to slaughter,” said Suzanne Roy, Director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC). “Unfortunately, there will be no justice for these mustangs, who suffered a brutal death in Mexican slaughter plants. No one at the BLM is being held accountable for this betrayal, and Tom Davis is not being prosecuted for violating his contractual obligation to not sell the horses for slaughter.”

In their response to the report, BLM officials said they are taking the matter very seriously and have taken preventative measures to ensure horses sold by the agency do not end up at slaughterhouses in the future.

BLM officials also said that the agency no longer has any business relationship with Mr. Davis and will not in the future.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/24/blm-illegally-sold-thousands-wild-horses-slaughter/

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After Wild Horse Report, Jewell Faces First Moment of Truth at Interior

A new federal report blasts the Bureau of Land Management for its wild horse policies– putting the new Interior Secretary squarely between science and politics.

June 7, 2013

“Wild horses are rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management in the West Desert of Utah in 2012. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)“

At the heart of the current debate over the nation’s wild horses is the BLM policy (encouraged and enhanced by Jewell’s predecessor Ken Salazar) of removing horses from their native rangelands out West and warehousing them in enclosures in the Midwest. Tens of thousands of wild horses now are so kept, at great taxpayer expense, while federal officials figure out what to do with them. For years, the BLM has justified these removals, many of which are dangerous to the horses, by claiming they are necessary to protect grazing lands for “multiple uses,” which really means livestock grazing and energy exploration.

The NAS Report took a dim view of the science behind this policy. The BLM’s “current practice of removing free-ranging horses from public lands promotes a high population growth rate,” the report concluded, “and maintaining them in long-term holding facilities is both economically unsustainable and incongruent with public expectations.” In other words, the scientists found that by removing so many wild horses from our lands the Interior Department was doing the opposite of what it was trying to do — decreasing population rates among the herds — and doing it without adequate scientific reason.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/after-wild-horse-report-jewell-faces-first-moment-of-truth-at-interior/276545/

 Top photo: Courtesy wild horse wallpaper blogspotdotdom

Middle Photo: Courtesy Wiki

Bottom Photo: Courtesy wild horse wallpapers

Posted in: Wild Horses, Animal Cruelty, Action Alert

Tags: Wild horses slaughtered, BLM negligence, Tom Davis, Mexican slaughterhouses, Colorado, accountability

ACTION ALERT: “Mexican Gray Wolf Supporters to Rally at Capitol”

From Center For Biological Diversity 

For Immediate Release, May 18, 2015

Activists Will Urge Gov. Martinez to Reverse Game Commission Stance, Grant Reintroduction Permit to Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch

SANTA FE, N.M.— Wildlife supporters, including local activists from the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance,  Animal Protection of New Mexico and WildEarth Guardians, will rally tomorrow, Tuesday, at noon at the state capitol to ask Gov. Susana Martinez to allow Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch in Sierra County to continue housing Mexican gray wolves as part of the reintroduction of these endangered animals. Earlier this month, the state game commission denied the ranch’s permit request, ending the facility’s 17 years of Mexican wolf conservation work. From Center For Biological Diversity For Immediate Release, May 18, 2015

MAY 19 RALLY FOR THE MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES:

WHAT: Members of the public will rally at the New Mexico State Capitol (a.k.a. the Roundhouse), in Santa Fe to protest the New Mexico Game Commission’s politically-based refusal to renew a permit for the Ladder Ranch to hold wolves as part of the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program.

When: Noon to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday

Where: East side (front) of the Roundhouse

Visuals: Attendees will have signs and banners. Speakers will include former Santa Fe Mayor David Coss; former federal Mexican wolf recovery coordinator David R. Parsons; Michael Robinson, author and wolf activist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Silver City; and Roxane George of Mexicanwolves.org.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 825,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/mexican-gray-wolf-05-18-2015.html

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Photo: Courtesy Lobos of the Southwest

Posted in: Mexican gray wolf, action alert, activism, Howling For Justice

Tags: Center for Biological Diversity, Critically endangered Mexican gray wolf, Ted Turner Ladder Ranch, Governor Martinez, protest to reinstate Ladder Ranch permit, New Mexico, May 19, 2015

Action Alert: Petition to List the Yellowstone Bison as Threatened or Endangered Under the Endangered Species Act

November 14, 2014

Update: I made this a little confusing. There is no petition to sign. Western Watersheds Project and Buffalo Field Campaign petitioned the USFWS to list Yellowstone bison as threatened or endangered.

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Petition to List the Yellowstone Bison as Threatened or Endangered Under the Endangered Species Act

Western Watersheds Project & Buffalo Field Campaign

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/ESAPetition20141113.pdf

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From the Buffalo Field Campaign

Endangered Species Act Protection Sought for the Imperiled Yellowstone Bison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 13, 2014

Press Contacts:
Travis Bruner, Executive Director, Western Watersheds Project, 208-788-2290
Michael Connor, Western Watersheds Project, 818-345-0425
Daniel Brister, Executive Director, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070
Darrell Geist, Habitat Coordinator, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-531-9284

FACT SHEET: WHY YELLOWSTONE BISON ARE THREATEND WITH EXTINCTION

MONTANA: Western Watersheds Project and Buffalo Field Campaign petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today to list the Yellowstone bison under the Endangered Species Act. Yellowstone bison are found primarily in Yellowstone National Park and migrate into the jurisdictions of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming where the wildlife species is forcibly removed or destroyed completely. Yellowstone bison are the only extant wildlife population of plains bison that retains its genetic integrity and still freely roams in the United States.

Nearly all plains bison in the United States are private livestock and/or descendants of bison that were commercially interbred with cattle. These hybridized cattle-bison no longer retain their identity as plains bison, or status as a wildlife species in privately owned herds. All privately owned bison are managed as livestock. Nearly all publicly held bison exist in small, isolated populations on restricted and fenced ranges with no predators and subject entirely to human selection.

The best available science presented in the petition shows that the Yellowstone bison are unique, significant, and genetically and behaviorally distinct. For this reason, the Yellowstone bison population is critical to the overall survival and recovery of the species.

“Prompt listing under the Endangered Species Act is required if this last remnant population of plains bison is to survive and recover,” stated Travis Bruner of Western Watersheds Project.
“The extirpation of the unique Yellowstone bison would represent the complete loss of wild bison from the last stronghold of their historic and ecological range, loss of unique ecological adaptations to the local environment, and the loss of valuable and unique genetic qualities.” stated Michael Connor of Western Watersheds Project.

The petition catalogues the many threats that Yellowstone bison face. Specific threats include: extirpation from their range to facilitate livestock grazing, livestock diseases and disease management practices by the government, overutilization, trapping for slaughter, hunting, ecological and genomic extinction due to inadequate management, and climate change.

The Yellowstone bison population is comprised of genetically and behaviorally distinct subpopulations with differing migration patterns. The wild migratory species uses a significant portion of the geothermal habitats in Yellowstone National Park, an unusual ecological adaptation unique to Yellowstone bison.
“The wild bison living in and around Yellowstone National Park are the only bison in America to continuously occupy their native habitat since the days when tens of millions migrated freely across the continent,” said BFC Executive Director Dan Brister. “A listing under the Endangered Species Act is necessary to ensure the survival of this iconic species.”

Policies of the National Park Service and National Forest Service, and state regulatory mechanisms threaten rather than protect the Yellowstone bison and their habitat. Since 2000, the Park has taken over 3,600 bison in capture for slaughter operations. The Forest Service issues livestock grazing permits in bison habitat. State regulatory mechanisms in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming all result in the forced removal or complete destruction of bison migrating beyond Park borders.
The groups have requested the USFWS issue an initial finding on the petition within 90 days as required by the Endangered Species Act.

Once numbering tens of millions, there were fewer than 25 wild bison remaining in the remote interior of Pelican Valley in Yellowstone National Park at the turn of the 20th Century. The 1894 Lacey Act, the first federal law specifically safeguarding bison, protected these few survivors from extinction.
The petition is available online download the PDF, HERE.

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/media/press1415/pressreleases1415/111314.html

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Photo: Nabeki 2013

Posted in: Action Alerts, Yellowstone’s Wild Free-Roaming Bison

Tags: Yellowstone Bison, Western Watersheds Project, Buffalo Field Campaign, ESA, protect Yellowstone Bison

ACTION ALERT: US Democrat Senators, Up For Re-Election, Who Voted For The 2011 Wolf Delisting Rider

November 4, 2014

VOTE!

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October 30, 2014

Vote these Democrat bums out of office!! They sold wolves down the river for Jon Tester’s Senate seat, in the Spring of 2011, by voting for the budget bill/ wolf delisting rider. Only 3 US Democrat Senators voted no. Why did they do this? To hold onto their Senate majority. President Obama signed the bill into law.

What the rider says:

(“SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.”)

Send them a strong message on election day. Let them know what you think about their betrayal of wolves and the ESA by voting NO on their re-election bid!

Thousands of wolves have been killed in hunts because of the Senator’s actions. Eventually, Great Lakes wolves lost their federal protections as well. Now wolves are being hunted in 4 states: Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin and Minnesota with Michigan pushing hard  for a wolf hunt. Wyoming wolves were just relisted, due to a recent federal ruling but the Wyoming delegation is pushing for another Congressional delisting of wolves. This must be stopped! Congress has no business dismantling or meddling with the Endangered Species Act. This is a purely political move, to appease hunters and agribusiness.

245 wolves have  been killed in this year’s hunts, and they’re just getting warmed up. Minnesota’s wolf hunt starts on November 8th, with 250 wolves slated to die. Wisconsin has slaughtered 219 wolves in just 15 days.

I’ll leave this post up through election day, Tuesday, November 4th. Please stand up for wolves and show these politicians we have long memories!

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US Democrat Senators, Up For Re-Election, Who Voted To Delist Wolves, Via 2011 Budget Bill/Wolf Delisting Rider

Baucus (D-MT) resigned – seat open

(Click on names to visit their sites)

Begich (D-AK)

Durbin (D-IL)

Franken (D-MN)

Hagan (D-NC)

Harkin (D-IA)

Johnson (D-SD)

Landrieu (D-LA)

Merkley (D-OR)

Pryor (D-AR)

Reed (D-RI)

Reid (D-NV)

Rockefeller (D-WV)

Schumer (D-NY)

Shaheen (D-NH)

Udall (D-CO)

Udall (D-NM)

Warner (D-VA)

If you want to see how the Republicans voted, please click on the Infamous 81 link, it lists everyone who voted yes. But we expected that of Republicans, but not the Democrats. That’s the real tragedy in all this. There was a President named Bill Clinton and he appointed Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt who oversaw the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone and Central Idaho in 95 and 96. He also created the Roadless Initiative, which I testified for. It set aside millions of acres of land for wildlife. That’s a Democrat, with an excellent Interior Secretary, who cares about our wild places and wants to preserve them. What passes for Democrats now should be ashamed to call themselves that.

If you want the full list of Republicans and Democrats who voted to delist wolves, watch this video,  made by wolf advocate Justin Forte.

 [youtube:http://youtu.be/w2aeTJ8CT60%5D

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Bloody Budget Bill

April 23, 2011

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/bloody-budget-bill-2/?

preview=true&preview_id=25599&preview_nonce=0af26a8714

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Contact The Infamous 81 Senators Who Voted To Delist Wolves In The Northern Rockies

April 15, 2011

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/contact-the-infamous-81/?preview=true&preview_id=12348&preview_nonce=7682a84e62

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Tester’s Howling Error

Congressionally delisting wolves could gut the ESA

by George Ochenski

Montana is already a national laughingstock thanks to the Republican legislature’s blatantly unconstitutional efforts to nullify federal laws on everything from guns to currency. Now comes Montana’s two U.S. Senators, Democrats Jon Tester and Max Baucus, who will only exacerbate the problem as they seek to congressionally exempt wolves from the Endangered Species Act—a precedent that may well make the act itself extinct.

http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/testers-howling-error/Content?oid=1428261

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Wyoming’s lawmakers might use law to remove wolves from endangered species list

October 05, 2014 8:00 am  •  By CHRISTINE PETERSON Casper Star-Tribune

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-s-lawmakers-might-use-law-to-remove-wolves-from/article_e07169ae-a6f8-521c-a562-51330a115c09.html

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Photo: Courtesy Justin Forte and Ann Sydow

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Action Alert

Tags: Vote Betraying Dems OUT, Budget Bill/ Wolf Delisting Rider, Montana wolves, Idaho wolves, Northeastern Washington wolves, Eastern Oregon Wolves, Utah wolves, no judicial review. US Senate betrayal of ESA, Sen. Jon Tester,  wolves sacrificed for Senate Majority, Democrats betray wolves, Wyoming wolves

ACTION ALERT: What’s Up In Red Wolf Country?

Wild Muse: http://sciencetrio.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/something-fishy-is-brewing-in-red-wolf-country-will-the-red-wolf-program-survive/

Red wolf puppies FWS Ryan Nordsven

Something fishy is brewing in Red Wolf Country: Will the red wolf program survive?

Posted at 9:50 pm by DeLene

Aug 30th

For a few weeks now, I’ve been suspecting that something awfully fishy is going on in Red Wolf Country. I can’t escape the premonition that higher-ups in the Fish and Wildlife Service are positioning their pawns to kill or significantly alter the red wolf reintroduction program. Three years have passed since I finished writing my book on red wolves, and it’s been one year since it was published. But so much has changed since then I can only shake my head in disbelief. All the hope I held onto when completing the book is wavering.

Red wolves are globally endangered, and though a captive population exists in some 40-plus breeding facilities across the U.S., the planet’s only wild red wolves, a mere 90 or so, inhabit 1.7 million acres on a spit of coastal swamp and forest known as the Albemarle Peninsula. The first reintroduced red wolves were released into Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on September 14, 1987. Nearly 27 years later, the FWS appears to be coming under intense pressure from anti-wolf advocates to shut down the red wolf program entirely.

On Friday, August 29, the FWS Southeast Regional Office issued a press release announcing the beginning of a 60-day review of the program and asking for public input. There’s information at the bottom of this post about how to submit comments. But first, there are a few importat things to note about what’s happened, and what hasn’t… taken together, something very fishy is brewing on the horizon:

1. The FWS issued this press release — perhaps the most important red wolf program press releases ever — on the Friday before Labor Day. In other words, they dumped the news in such a way as to ensure few media outlets might pick up on it right away… it’s the best strategy in the world to let the information land with a soft poof and not make many waves until after the Labor Day weekend had passed — that is, if reporters even find the release in their inboxes by then.

2. The release stated a very short window of time for people to submit comments: a mere two weeks. Comments will be closed on Sept. 12. (I can’t help but dwell on the irony of that date, as it falls so close to the 27th anniversary of the red wolf program.) When the FWS last held a 5-year review of the red wolf program in 2005, they allowed two months for comments — this time, they’re only allowing two weeks for comments, three days of which are consumed by a national Holiday!

3. The program review is being conducted by a third party, the Wildlife Management Institute. Never having heard of this organization before I googled them only to discover their Board is composed primarily of people working in sportsmen’s organizations: the Boone and Crocket Club, Pheasants Forever, ATK Security and Shooting, and Pheasants Forever. Really? This is the crew who will decide the fate of the red wolf program? A sportsmen’s wildlife management group? By awarding the contract to WMI, it appears the FWS is all but signaling its desire to cut the red wolf program off at the knees.

4. The FWS has yet to publish in the Federal Register the initiation of a program review, or their solicitation of public comments. I’m fairly sure this may be an illegal avenue to holding a review at all: their regulations require the announcement to be published in the Federal Register.

5. Nor has the FWS published in the Federal Register the two planned open houses in northeastern North Carolina, where they have announced (in the press release) that the public is welcome to offer comments on the red wolf program.

Call me cynical, but something smells awfully rotten here. Combined, all of these elements reek that the SE Regional Office is harboring intentions of either significantly changing the red wolf program or perhaps eliminating it all together. 

What can you do? Write an email attesting to your support of the red wolf recovery program. Send it to: redwolfreview@fws.gov. The press release states the FWS is interested in hearing about “the public’s perspectives regarding red wolves, and red wolf recovery efforts in Eastern North Carolina . . . Interested individuals may submit comments, concerns, or information regarding the Eastern North Carolina non-essential, experimental red wolf population and the program evaluation . . .” The advocacy group The Red Wolf Coalition has posted an informative action alert on their website. I’m shamelessly cutting and pasting it below:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program is currently undergoing a 60-day review, which is to be completed by 10 October 2014. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is gathering public perspective and opinion via three three methods: (1) email, (2) an online survey and (3) public focus group sessions. The future of the Recovery Program will depend to a significant degree on public input, and the red wolves are depending on YOU to be their voice. Below are ways you can show your support for red wolves and red wolf conservation.

1. Send an email message to the Red Wolf Recovery Program at redwolfreview@fws.gov. Please remember that positive comments get more attention than negative ones! Also, please be sure to send your email message by the end of business on 12 September 2014.
2. Complete the online survey at http://jgassett.polldaddy.com/s/red-wolf-restoration-recovery-program. As above, be sure to complete your survey by the end of business on 12 September 2014
3. Plan to attend a public focus group session. Details about these sessions are not yet complete, so watch this page for future information. In the meantime, here’s what we know as of 29 August 2014:

• The first session will be in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 10 September 2014, in the Mattamuskeet High School Cafeteria, which is located at 20392 U.S. Highway 264.
• The second session will be held in Columbia, North Carolina, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, 11 September 2014, in the Columbia High School Auditorium, which is located at 902 East Main Street

• http://sciencetrio.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/something-fishy-is-brewing-in-red-wolf-country-will-the-red-wolf-program-survive/

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Posted in: Red Wolves, Action Alert

Tags: Red wolves, Red wolf recovery program

Mexican Gray Wolves Offered Double Edged Sword…

Aspen AF667 and AM863 in the summer of 2007 (USFWS)

USFWS gives and then takes away. Mexican gray wolves will be allowed to roam further but will be under the threat of increased killing! I highlighted some of the blithering  from the USFWS. Of course they’re speaking  in double talk but the bottom line is this: …..“as proposed, those science-based reforms would be coupled with provisions that would allow increased federal, state and private trapping and shooting of wolves, contrary to studies that show that more wolves must be allowed to live in the wild.” (Center For Biological Diversity)

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Wolves Could Be Free to Roam, be Killed Under Program Changes
PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2014 9:40 am
By Donald Jaramillo and Benjamin Fisher Cibola Beacon and Silver City Daily Press | 0 comments

CIBOLA COUNTY – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently announced its update to its June 2013 proposed revisions to the existing nonessential experimental population designation of the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) under the Endangered Species Act to provide additional clarity and flexibility to effectively manage the experimental population in a working landscape. The Service also announced the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (dEIS) on the proposed revisions. A 60-day public comment period is reopening through Sept. 23 to provide all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed rule and dEIS. Public information meetings and hearings have also been scheduled.
FWS has proposed new revisions to the Mexican gray wolf initiative that would expand both the scope of the animals’ reintroduction and the freedom to kill them in certain circumstances.

The proposed a revision would extend the wolf’s population area from Interstate 40 to the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico and Arizona. This would allow reintroduction and dispersion of the wolf to anywhere in that border area. Since not all of that area is federal land, it will allow the wolves to spread onto private, state and tribal lands as well.
“(We’re) trying to open up the landscape, to set up a northern border at I-40 and let them spread out,’ said Tracy Melbihess, a biologist with the FWS’s Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. “It gives the wolves the chance to spread out outside of the Apache and Gila national forests.”

“If we are already in place trying to remove wolves from an area, it is just more efficient to go ahead and permit the property owner to help us,” Melbihess said. “So, this could permit ranchers to take a wolf under very special circumstances.”
Jeff Humphrey, a public outreach specialist with the USFWS, said that the pro posed revision is really there to open a broad enough rule to accommodate what may be needed in the future.

Because of the wolf’s proposed new spread, many private, state and tribal lands are included — resulting in more opportunities for interaction between wolves and humans. Therefore, the proposal also clarifies definitions of when wolves can be taken while attacking livestock or non-feral dogs, or as is needed to manage wild populations of elk, deer, etc. The FWS already “takes” wolves in these situations.

The proposal will be the subject of two hearings. The New Mexico meeting will be held Aug. 13 from 6 to 9 p.m. in Truth or Consequences, with an informational session scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. that day in the same location. The Arizona meeting will be held Aug. 11 in Pinetop.

The comment period on the proposed rule will remain open through Sept. 23.
Since 1998, the Service and cooperating state, federal and tribal agencies have reintroduced and managed Mexican wolves under a rule designating the U.S. population as “Nonessential, Experimental.” The designation provides for increased management flexibility for populations that are reintroduced into a designated experimental area within their historical range.

The proposed revisions include:
• _expanding the areas within which Mexican wolves can be released and disperse,
• _extending the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area’s (MWEPA) southern boundary from I-40 to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico, and
• _clarifying definitions in the rule, including when wolves can be taken while attacking livestock and non-feral dogs, or as needed to manage wild ungulate populations (elk, deer, etc.).

The regulatory flexibility provided by these proposed revisions to the 1998 rule would allow for management actions within the MWEPA that further the conservation of the Mexican wolf while being responsive to the needs of local communities in cases of problem wolf behavior.

The proposed rule revisions have been informed by and are being evaluated through the development of a comprehensive dEIS. The dEIS evaluates impacts of four alternative revisions to the rule (including the 1998 rule) on land use, biological resources (including wild ungulate prey species), economic activities (including ranching, hunting and tourism), human health and safety, and environmental justice.

Written comments on this proposed rule and the draft environmental impact statement can be submitted by one of the following methods:
(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov . Search for FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056, which is the docket number for this rulemaking. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment Now!” Ensure that you have found the correct rulemaking before submitting your comment.
(2) By hard copy: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
Previously submitted comments on the proposed rule revision and dEIS need not be resubmitted, as they will be fully considered in preparation of the final rule and EIS.

To learn more about the proposed rule revision, dEIS, and details of the public hearings, and for links to submit comments to the record, visit http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/ 

http://www.cibolabeacon.com/news/wolves-could-be-free-to-roam-be-killed-under-program/article_44905c6c-1f12-11e4-82a4-0019bb2963f4.html

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Photo: Courtesy USFWS

Posted in: Mexican gray wolves,  Wolf Wars , Action Alert

Tags: Increased ability to kill Mexican gray wolves, more room to roam but with strings, let wolves live in peace, take action, critically endangered species

ACTION ALERT: Tweetstorm Tuesday, July 29, 2014 – Dan Ashe – Director – USFWS

Dan Ashe, the director of the USFWS, recently stated in a small round table discussion  “that he sees a “giant clash” between those who favor conservation and those who favor economic development and that he believes that conservationists “must accept a world with fewer wolves, salmon, and spotted owls.” The Director of the very agency most responsible for protecting the nation’s biodiversity went on to say that, in the name of compromise, we must accept “a world with less biodiversity.”……H. Ronald Pulliam

What an incredible statement from a man whose responsibility is to “conserve the nature of America”. That is the mission statement plastered on the front page of the USFWS website.  Yet the director of this agency thinks we need less biodiversity? Of course I’m not surprised he said this because he’s pushing to delist wolves nationally.

We want to send Dan Ashe a message. We don’t need less biodiversity, we need more and conservationists won’t be bullied by an agency who seems to have their priorities mixed up. The USFWS priority is conservation not exploitation or economic development. Is this the person we want in charge of the USFWS? Absolutely not. But once again the Obama administration has let Americans down with a USFWS Director who seems to care more about corporations and what’s best for them, then doing his job protecting and conserving the nature of America.

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Information on the Tweetstorm on Tuesday, July 29, 2014

(Please visit this link:   https://www.facebook.com/events/356187307868081/

to get all the information on HASHTAG and TWEETSHEET 15 minutes before the storm!” This Tweetstorm is sponsored by Protecting Endangered Species)

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♥ HASHTAG and TWEETSHEET will be posted here 15min before the storm, we want to be sure there is a strong spike that will trend.. please check here right before the storm to get ready and all will be posted. Please promote for people to check in at this link a few minutes before the storm for hashtag and tweetsheet and they will be good to go. ♥
Effort with United Against Trophy Hunting
Tue July 29 – 9pm Eastern & 6pm Pacific Time

Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently made a public comment that in a “giant clash” of those who favor conservation and those who favor economic development and that conservationists “must accept a world with fewer wolves, salmon, and spotted owls.”

These are not the best options that we have, this is favoring the wealthy corporations represented by lobbies who continue to use our natural resources competitively. Our right to make decisions involving the future of our planet, which affects our personal health, and our values, have been taken by these wealthy interests. Our natural resources are not a source of profit for a few.

The big organizations that we think are tasked with protecting our wildlife, environment, and environmental resources have loyalties to these corporations and special interests.

We need to contact the USFWS and our legislators to tell them that how we feel, and that they need to represent us.

ACTION ~ please let Mr Ashe know why this is so wrong, and why we must coexist intelligently before we lose our natural resources.

We CANNOT be humane or sustainable if we don’t protect our animals, our environment and our future. Profit is temporary.

Dan Ashe: https://twitter.com/DirectorDanAshe
Telephone 202-208-4717
Email: dan_ashe@fws.gov
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1849 C. Street, NW
ROOM 3331 Washington, DC 20240

Source ~ http://www.defendersblog.org/2014/07/must-accept/

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https://www.facebook.com/events/356187307868081/

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If you have a Twitter account please take part in this important event. If you don’t have a Twitter account, create one.

Be there for the wolves, For the wild ones,

Nabeki

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Photos:  Courtesy Protecting Endangered Species Facebook Page

Posted in: Action Alert, Biodiversity, Activism

Tags: Dan Ashe, Tweetstorm, Tuesday 7/29/14, USFWS, more biodiversity needed, take action, speak out for wildlife, Twitter

Speak For Wolves : Yellowstone 2014 – Update

June 2, 2014

The establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 is one of the greatest achievements in American history, affording protection to one of our country’s true wild places. Appreciation for this action, and the land it preserved, is being cherished more and more by each passing generation. And Yellowstone is much more than an American treasure; it is an international jewel, attracting millions of people from all over the world every year.

Fast-forward 123 years to 1995 and 1996, when the federal government, at the behest of the American people, released 66 gray wolves into Yellowstone. After one of America’s most iconic species was brought to near extinction through hunting, trapping, poisoning, and other government-funded methods in the 19th and 20th centuries, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service finally began to recover this internationally beloved species. And, because of its wildness and large size, as well as its complement of abundant prey species, Yellowstone was one of two places chosen to welcome the wolves home. Idaho was the second place.

On June 28-29, 2014, people of all walks of life are invited to attend Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014, a 2-day family friendly celebration of wolves, predators and other native species that contribute to our rich national heritage. The event will be held at Arch Park in Gardiner, MT, just north of the Roosevelt Arch, near the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 will feature prominent speakers and authors from the conservation community, and will include live music, education booths, children’s activities and food vendors. The event is free and open to the public. Please visit the event website at http://www.speakforwolves.org/.

In addition to daytime activities at Arch Park, the screening of two wildlife documentaries will occur on Saturday evening, June 28 at 7 pm. The films will be shown at the Gardiner Community Center, which is located at 210 W. Main Street in downtown Gardiner. Organizers will be showing Predator Defense’s film, Exposed: USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife and Project Coyote’s film, Coexisting with Wildlife: The Marin Livestock and Wildlife Protection Program. The films will be followed by a panel discussion composed of conservationists and scientists. The films are free.

Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 is an opportunity for the American people to unite and demand wildlife management reform, and to take an important step toward restoring our national heritage. Unbeknownst to many Americans, over 3,000 gray wolves have been slaughtered across America, including around Yellowstone National Park, since certain segments of the wolf population were prematurely stripped of federal protections under the Endangered Species Act just a few years ago. The controversial delisting of the northern Rockies gray wolf was the first time Congress intervened and delisted a species in the 40-year history of the Endangered Species Act.

Lengthy hunting seasons now occur in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Hunters are permitted to hunt wolves with dogs in Wisconsin. Barbaric trapping/snaring seasons exist in Idaho. The USDA Wildlife Services just gunned-down 23 wolves from a helicopter in a rugged national forest in Idaho. In just twenty years, the federal government has completely reversed its course on the biological recovery of the gray wolf, and is now in the business of wiping them out again.

While many people are calling for relisting of gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act, others are saying that it is time to completely reform wildlife management in the United States.

Event organizers for Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 have developed the following five keys to reforming wildlife management in America:

1. Ban trapping/snaring on all federal public lands.
2. End grazing on all federal public lands.
3. Abolish the predator-control department of the USDA Wildlife Services.
4. Reform how state fish and game agencies operate.
5. Introduce legislation to protect all predators, including wolves, from sport hunting, trapping, and snaring.

Please consider attending Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014. The only thing that can save the gray wolf from a second extermination is a strong grassroots movement consisting of every-day people. Let’s come together and embark on this journey together. Let’s make the world a better place, for not only current generations, but for those generations still to come.

Your support is greatly appreciated!

Learn more at http://www.speakforwolves.org/ or follow the event for updates at http://www.facebook.com/speakforwolvesyellowstone2014.

Sincerely,

Brett Haverstick
Organizer

Action Alert: Support Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014

April 21, 2014

Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 will take place on June 28-29 at Arch Park in Gardiner, Montana. It’s an opportunity for the American people to unite and demand wildlife management reform and take an important step towards restoring our national heritage. Approximately, 3,000 gray wolves have been killed in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes region in the short time they were wrongfully stripped of protections under the Endangered Species Act.

 

Please consider supporting this national event by making a donation through the website (live link it to http://www.speakforwolves.org )

Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 is a 2-day festival-type event with prominent speakers, live music, food vendors, wildlife photography, children’s activities and more. The event aims to be educational, inspirational and non-confrontational. Arch Park is a public space just outside the gates of the northwest entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Hope you can join us!

Brett Haverstick, Organizer