ACTION ALERT: “House Republicans Unveil Another Anti-wolf, Anti-endangered Species Appropriations Bill”

Center For Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, May 24, 2016

Contact: Jamie Pang, (858) 699-4153, Jpang@biologicaldiversity.org

Release, May 24, 2016

House Republicans Unveil Another Anti-wolf, Anti-endangered Species Appropriations Bill

114th Congress Has Now Launched Nearly 20 Legislative Attacks on Wolves

WASHINGTON— Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives today introduced a bill to fund the U.S. Department of the Interior that includes a poison-pill rider to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming and the western Great Lakes and to undermine other endangered species protections. The legislative rider would undo two court decisions affirming that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly removed Endangered Species Act protections for the wolf.

The bill is the 18th attack by the current Congress on gray wolves nationwide and the 12th attack targeting wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming populations.

“This is the most extreme, anti-wolf Congress our country has ever seen,” said Jamie Pang, an endangered species campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Rather than allowing for wolf recovery to follow a course prescribed by science, a small group of politicians has repeatedly tried to undermine species protections through unrelated policy riders tacked onto must-pass federal spending bills.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service removed protections for gray wolves in the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota) in 2011, and in Wyoming in 2012. In both instances federal judges overturned agency decisions for prematurely removing protections, failing to follow the requirements of the Act and failing to follow the best available science. Republican lawmakers have responded by repeatedly attempting to remove protections from wolves and open the animals up to state-regulated hunting and trapping. Since the passage of the 2011 wolf rider that removed protections from wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, there have been almost 30 legislative attacks on wolves in Congress. Already in 2016 there have been 10 legislative attacks, surpassing the number of anti-wolf bills for all of 2015.

In addition to this rider, the appropriations bill also contains language preventing the greater sage grouse from being protected under the Act, and would weaken protections for salmon and the Delta smelt in California’s Bay-Delta region.

“This shameful meddling is harmful to science, harmful to the rule of law, and harmful to our democratic processes,” said Pang. “Congressional lawmakers know that 90 percent of American voters support the Endangered Species Act, which precisely is why they have to resort to such back-door attempts at weakening the law.”

Despite overwhelming public support for the Endangered Species Act and the species it protects, there has been a greater than 600 percent increase in Republican-led legislative attacks on endangered species since the landmark ruling in Citizens United.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/wolf-05-24-2016.html

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

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Posted in: gray wolf, Wolf Wars

Photo: Courtesy ODFW

Tags: Center for Biological Diversity, Anti wolf, House Republicans war on wolves, poison-pill rider, Congress attack on the ESA, Wyoming wolves, Great Lakes wolves, Endangered Species Act, Take Action

Remembering Limpy: The Life and Death of Wolf 253

Limpy – Wolf 253/Steve Justad

March 16, 2015

On March 28, 2008, almost seven years ago, a cherished Druid Peak pack wolf,  nick-named Limpy, was shot dead outside Daniel,Wyoming.  It happened on the day wolves, in the Northern Rockies, lost their ESA protections for the first time by the then Bush Administration. 

“He died for nothing”  said Lake City resident Marlene Foard.  A senseless death for a beloved wolf.

RIP Limpy – we remember and miss you!

Here is Limpy’s story told  by the Trib.com.

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The life and death of wolf 253

Posted: Sunday, April 13, 2008 12:00 am  Trib.com

FRANZ CAMENZIND

A wolf died the other day in Wyoming. Along with three others, it was shot and killed on the first day that wolves in most of the state lost the protection of the Endangered Species Act. These were legal kills made by people simply because they could. Nothing more was required of them but to report the kills to state officials – no license, no fees, no restrictions.

For sportsmen, one of the proudly held rules is: “Know Your Target.” What did these hunters know about their targets?

One of the four dead wolves was a female that may have been pregnant. Two of the males were unknown and will be remembered simply as body count numbers in the West’s war on wolves. But one wolf has a history known to many throughout the region. To some he was “Limpy,” to others he was “The Wanderer.” Officially, he was 253M, the 253rd wolf to be radio-collared in the Greater Yellowstone area since wolves were reintroduced in the mid-90s.

253M was born in April 2000 into the Druid Peak Pack, whose territory encompasses Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley. His father was likely 21M, a leader of renown and a story unto himself. 21M was one of the first generation of wolves born in Yellowstone in more than 60 years.

253M was black, as are nearly half of Yellowstone’s wolves. Before he was two, he was injured defending his territory from intruders from a nearby pack. Although the Druids held their territory, 253M’s left hind leg was injured, causing a life-long limp distinguishing him from other wolves.

In the fall of 2002, he left his home territory, typical behavior for wolves of that age. Later that fall, on Nov. 30, 253M was accidentally caught in a trap set for coyotes about 20 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, making him the first confirmed wolf in Utah in more than 70 years. Tracks around the site suggested that he was traveling with another wolf – perhaps they were a pair exploring for a place to begin a new life.

253M was taken back to Wyoming and released three days later by a federal biologist south of Yellowstone Park. He made his way back to the Druid Pack before Christmas, surprising the “experts,” who thought he would immediately head back south.

This second time around, he remained with the Druids for nearly two years and rose to the level of second-ranking male – subordinate only to the now-famous, but aging, 21M. In the summer of 2004, 21M died, and most observers thought that 253M would take over as leader of the Druids. But again, he managed to fool the experts and waged only a minor battle with “New Black,” as the victor and new Druid leader came to be known.

Immediately after New Black assumed his alpha status, 253M broke from the pack and began wandering about Yellowstone, mostly undetected, only to unexpectedly appear on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole – 90 miles south of his birthplace – alone, but looking healthy.

It was in early 2005 that 253M may have fathered his only offspring. He was observed with another male and female, and 5 pups, forming the new Flat Creek Pack. But within a year, 253M again headed south, and the Flat Creek Pack dissolved. The cause of the sudden disintegration of this new pack will never be known. Was 253M simply living up to one of his names, The Wanderer?

Meanwhile, the Daniel Pack, which roamed across a mix of ranching and wild lands 60 miles southeast of Jackson, was implicated in cattle depredations and thus under constant surveillance and control. Sometime in the next year or so, 253M found his way into this persecuted pack.

During his eight years of travel across thousands of miles and at least two states, 253M was never accused of any destruction of human property. He was a “good wolf” – one who adapted to his human-dominated world. The kind of wolf we should be able to live with.

But on the morning of March 28, his luck ran out. Not because of anything he did, but because of what a minority of people in Wyoming wanted – to take all protection off wolves in 88 percent of the state, where anyone can now kill any wolf by any means at any time. 253M and three others were killed for nothing more than being wolves in Wyoming’s politically designated predator zone.

253M and other wolves are now dead in Wyoming because some don’t want wolves in the Equality State.

Now we “Know The Target.” What have we learned?

Franz Camenzind is executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.

http://trib.com/editorial/forum/article_124999b7-cf79-5ce6-bb05-48213d55554b.html

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Click the video to watch on YouTube

August 16, 2011

This video is a treasure I found by chance, a beautiful narration by Brian Connolly of the life and death of wolf 253M. It is so moving you will be brought to tears.

Limpy was the inspiration for this blog.  He was the perfect wolf in my mind’s eye, a member of the iconic Druid Peak Pack, who once ruled Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley.

Brian, I don’t know you but thanks  for your beautiful ode to Limpy, who gave pleasure to so many. A wolf, who over came the adversity of injury but was killed for nothing in the name of blood sport.

Rest in peace dear, dear wolf 253M

For the wolves, For Limpy,

Nabeki

Howling For Justice is dedicated to wolf 253.

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Beloved ‘Wolf 253′ killed in Wyoming

April 2, 2008

John Hollenhorst reporting

One of the nation’s most famous and beloved wolves has been killed. Someone in Wyoming shot him, along with two other wolves, apparently the very day the Bush Administration lifted legal protections.

READ MORE:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2994073

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Top Photos: Courtesy Steve Justad

Bottom Photo: Courtesy KSLdotcomUtah

Video:  Courtesy YouTube Brian Connolly

Posted in: wolf 253,  Endangered Species Act,  Wolf wars

Tags: Endangered Species Act, wolf intolerance, blood lust, Limpy, Wolf 253, Druid Peak Pack, RIP Limpy, KSLdotcomUtah, Brian Connolly, Trib.com

22,000 Plus Signatures And Counting…Please Sign To Stop The Slaughter Of Montana’s Wolves

Jay found this 3 – 4 month old pup shot dead and thrown into a ditch, deep in the forest where the Fishtrap pack lived.  The pack no longer exists because Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks had them killed them,  which ended Jay’s 10-year study of these wolves.  This action also ended the longest behavioral study of wolves in the state’s history, outside of YNP.

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Stop the unjustified killing and hunting of Montana’s wolves. Use science

(Petitioning Montana Governor Steve Bullock (responded)

Petition by

Jay Mallonee – Wolf and Wildlife Studies

Kalispell, MT

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Click HERE To Sign The Petition!! 

If you would like to collect signatures on behalf of this petition, please click here for more information.

Written signatures are beginning to come in now.  I’ll keep a running total below that can be added to the number of online signatures to give the total number of petition signatures:

829 written signatures as of 9/9/13 (add to number of online signatures).

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As of September 7, 2013, our wolves are again being hunted and killed for the next six months.  Below, I present you with the evidence that documents the systematic “genocide” of a species and what you can do to prevent it.  No one scientist or environmental group will stop this.  Only when humanity decides that the lives of animals are important will this unscientific and senseless policy cease.  Please step-up and help these beings whose lives are an intrical part of healthy ecosystems.  The truth is right in front of you.

Overview:

Currently, there are two wolf issues that people find confusing:  1)  The removal of all gray wolves from the federal government’s Endangered Species Act (ESA); and 2)  Their management by the states.  The ESA designates U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as the agency responsible for determining what species are endangered and place them on the Endangered Species List (ESL).  After this happens, USFWS is responsible for removing species from the list and the ESA gives them the power to do so.  The wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming were removed from the ESL in 2009, but currently the ESA still provides minimal protection:  it only requires the states to maintain 100 wolves with 10 breeding pairs.  They can kill the rest which is exactly what Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho are doing or have done (in Wyoming’s case).  If the few remaining protections are lifted, then the states are free to kill ALL of their wolves with no intervention from the federal government.  Nevertheless, the remaining federal protection doesn’t help much because the wolves are being slaughtered anyway.

My fight is at the management level where the real problems are.  Even if the public “wins” and wolves remain protected by the ESA, then the status quo will remain – hundreds and hundreds of dead wolves.  Until the states are held accountable for their deplorable management practices that do not follow scientific protocols, wolves will die, thus my petition.  Please continue reading to learn more about my research and published scientific review of FWP’s flawed data, and how this petition will help wolves.

Background:

For over twenty years I have researched and taught about wolves. Having had the longest running behavioral study of these animals in Montana’s history, outside of Yellowstone National Park, my interactions with wolf management agencies has been extensive. I have found that most managers have an appalling lack of knowledge about these animals, along with a disregard for science.

At the end of 2011, I published a paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal that analyzed the data found in the annual reports published by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).  This agency is responsible for wolf management.   Their information was filled with fabricated numbers used in making management decisions, such as determining the hunting quota.  In summary, my review found:

1. The scientific method was not used during data collection which makes management decisions based on this information highly questionable.  Kent Laudon, one of the Wolf Management Specialists who collects the data, informed me that no protocols are used during data collection.  This is important because the conclusions derived from the data cannot be any better than the quality of data collected. In other words, wolf management is not based in science as FWP has claimed.

2. There is no accountability for the repercussions of management decisions, such as killing wolves without proper scientific assessment.  I took my paper to the Governor’s Office and met with Mike Volesky, the Environmental Policy Advisor to the Governor at the time.  Among other topics, I asked him about the procedures FWP used to collect their flawed data, because they claimed that wolf hunts were based in science.  He said he would “investigate.”  In subsequent emails, I was passed from one person to the next throughout the FWP hierarchy and never were my questions answered completely or even intelligently in some cases.  On my website, you can read some of my email exchanges with FWP and judge for yourself.

3. There appears to be no quality control of the data which makes FWP seem as if they do not understand or are unaware of what their numbers say.  After years of interacting with these officials, I can say that they are a club.  Their concept of wolf management acts more like a belief system rather than a set of rational guidelines.  They are entrenched in their conviction that what they do is right, despite evidence to the contrary.  As a result, FWP uses other peoples’ hatred of wolves to make and save money.

4. Wolves are managed without regard to their top-down influence throughout ecosystems, by ignoring other areas of science such as animal behavior, emotions, intelligence, interactions among life forms, and some basic ecological principles.  Although some management may be necessary, hunting wolves remains scientifically unjustified.  In regards to emotions, you can read my published scientific study about a captive wolf from the wild that developed PTSD from her abuse by wolf managers and subsequent captivity.  She had been shot (tranquilizers via guns) four times and chased by aircraft twice.

5. When the state of Montana created revenue by killing its own wolves, hunting them became a self-serving process, as with the hunting of all managed wildlife. Hunting wolves can save the state money by reducing costs, creating revenue, and collecting opportunistic data from hunters. Therefore, money and convenience are some of the reasons to hunt wolves, which implies conflict of interest, especially when no scientific protocols were followed.

6. The actions of FWP bring up the moral issue of how a government agency can use flawed data to make management decisions, kill hundreds of wolves, and be allowed to do so.  Even when FWP conducted studies on elk populations, their own data demonstrated that their justifications for killing wolves was wrong. Click here for a summary of that information and current policies.

I have come to realize that I cannot expect FWP to act responsibly because they do not know what that means. I am responsible for wolf management. So are you. If you want wolves you will have to fight for them. Use what science knows about these animals and understand the data.  Use the provided links to educate yourself about the insanity of wolf management and to email FWP officials directly.  This is crucial because managers at FWP create a facade with their numbers. It will take some effort to unravel this illusion to reveal the truth.

Through my ten-year study of the Fishtrap pack, and from the results of other scientific studies, there is at least one truth science has learned about wolves:  the pack is an intricate design of almost infinite complexity.  I have learned that rather than a “thing,” a wolf pack is a dynamic process.  It is greater than the sum of its parts.  The parts consist of pack members interacting with each other and with their surrounding environment.  The net result is a force that changes over time as the pack reacts to endless environmental variations such as increasing or decreasing prey populations, prey migration, climatic changes, or when pack members come and go.

The picture above shows a pup who was a member of the Fishtrap pack.  I found her shot and thrown into a ditch, and this was when wolves were still endangered.  Nevertheless, entire packs could always be removed as part of wolf management control actions.  Despite the science, my study of the Fishtrap wolves came to an abrupt end several years ago when FWP killed all of them for apparently killing someone’s cow.  There was no warning, no call, nothing.  They just vanished.  I had even found wolf pack behavior never before documented, but wolf management is not about enlightenment.  It is about killing, because they don’t seem to know what else to do, and it is convenient.

Currently, FWP continues to let the public kill more and more wolves, without knowing how many wolves actually live in the state and without scientific justification.  As of September 1, 2013, another hunting season on wolves has commenced and will last over six months.  Hunters and trappers are now allowed to kill up to five wolves each.  As added incentive, out-of-state hunting fees have also been reduced.

Following is a list of the officials involved in wolf management. They are arranged from the highest political level to the lowest, top to bottom. I urge anyone interested in this subject to email these people and demand the truth about wolf management and clarification as to what is really going on.

Steve Bullock, Governor of Montana, governor@mt.gov.

Jeff Hagener, FWP Director, jhagener@mt.gov.

Mike Volesky, FWP Deputy Director, MVolesky@mt.gov.

Jim Satterfield, Regional Supervisor, jsatterfield@mt.gov.

Jim Williams, FWP Wildlife Program Manager, jiwilliams@mt.gov.

Kent Laudon, Wolf Management Specialist, klaudon@mt.gov.

Please visit my web site for more specific and additional information about wolves in Montana and my interactions with the government to end the killing of these animals. My scientific publications and the magazine articles I have written about this issue are available as free PDF downloads. You will see that FWP has no scientific justification for killing our wolves. Until the public as a whole tells wolf managers to stop, this process will continue indefinitely.

The goal is 100,000 signatures:  a good representation of different people and cultures from around the world.  Make FWP listen.  Every signature is emailed to the officials listed below.  However, when the goal has been reached, I will travel to the captiol and present a copy of your signatures and comments to the Governor, with the media present.  Enough of this killing.  It needs to stop.

Please share this petition with family and friends using Facebook, Twitter or other social media.  These are your wolves, the world’s wolves.  Don’t let them die for the agenda of only a few misguided and bigoted people.

Thank you for your concern,

Jay Mallonee
Wolf and Wildlife Studies
www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com

This petition began on 3/29/13.

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If you would like to collect signatures on behalf of this petition, please click here for more information.

To:
Montana Governor Steve Bullock, Governor of Montana
Jeff Hagener, Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Mike Volesky, Deputy Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Jim Satterfield, FWP Regional Supervisor
Jim Williams, FWP Wildlife Program Manager
Kent Laudon, Wolf Management Specialist

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Stop the unjustified killing and hunting of Montana’s wolves. Use science to guide wolf management!

Sincerely,
[Your name]

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Click Here To Sign The Petition!!

ACTION ALERT FROM OREGON WILD: Oregon Wolves Need Your Help! Time Sensitive!

OR3 Imnaha Pack, May 10, 2011 (ODFW)

Dear Oregon Wild Supporter,

Over the last month, thousands of Oregonians have spoken out against hysterical anti-wildlife measures in Salem. Thanks to overwhelming public opposition, the worst of the worst have been defeated. But dirty last-minute tricks by livestock industry lobbyists threaten to put wolves back in the crosshairs.

Make sure last-minute back-room deals don’t threaten wolves.

In just a few minutes, the legislature will vote on yet another tax break for the livestock industry. As bad as that sounds, that’s not enough for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. They also want dead wolves.

There’s an old trick used by Salem lobbyists that allows bad bills to go through in the waning hours of the legislative session and avoid public scrutiny. It’s called gut and stuff. Until the session officially ends, it’s a very real threat, and it works like this: find a friendly legislator, get them to take language from an unpopular or otherwise dead bill and stuff it into a more benign bill that’s likely to pass. Done right, by the time anyone notices, it’s too late.

We learned late last night that OCA lobbyists are working furiously to broker a last second deal that would do just that and – stop me if you’ve heard this already – declare a state of emergency, circumvent the Endangered Species Act, and fast track the killing of endangered gray wolves.

It’s the same legislation you helped kill in the Senate earlier this week. I was hoping this morning’s e-mail would be a celebration of that victory, but rather than accept defeat, this dirty trick by the OCA is a credible threat to give life to a bill radically out of step with Oregon values.

Time is short. The stakes are high. Oregon’s wolves need your voice one more time. Take action to make sure dirty tricks don’t give new life to bad idea.

For wolves, wildlife, and playing by the rules,

Rob Klavins
Wildlife Advocate
Oregon Wild

PS – Hopefully we’ll be able to send out that victory e-mail soon and get back to talking about the good news about Oregon’s wolves. We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop if the threat grows, but please take action one more time so that good news will be possible. Non-Oregonians can call the Governor’s office at 503.378.4582.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1780/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1239859

Lummis Blames “Radical Environmentalists” For Rider Removal….

Apparently Cynthia Lummis isn’t happy her wolf/delisting rider was removed from the budget bill by Congress. She blames “radical environmentalists”.

“Lummis issued a statement on Friday claiming that radical environmentalists used what she called “their considerable sway in the White House” to remove the language. An attempt to reach her for comment on Friday was unsuccessful.”

Not really sure what political sway she’s talking about?  It was Obama who delisted  wolves in the Northern Rockies, mere months after he took office. It was the Senate Democrats, with help from Republicans, who voted to delist wolves via budget rider last Spring and the President signed the wolf rider/budget bill into law. We have two ongoing, brutal wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho because of that delisting and the Endangered Species Act has been weakened.

If there is any  “sway” it  has more to do with the upcoming 2012 elections AND the wolf and wildlife advocates who burned up the Capitol phone lines this week to send a message to their Representatives.  

NO MORE WOLF DELISTING RIDERS!!

I think  Congress got the message loud and clear!

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Congress removes wolf ‘no lawsuit’ rider from bill, Lummis blames environmentalists

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/d81c55f4c76946fd9f2897dea8496d2e/WY–Wolves-Wyoming/

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Congressional negotiators shoot down no-sue clause on Wyoming wolf deal

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/congressional-negotiators-shoot-down-no-sue-clause-on-wyoming-wolf/article_f3568f24-2806-11e1-8dd9-0019bb2963f4.html
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Congress strips wolf ‘no-lawsuit’ rider from bill

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/congress-strips-wolf-no-lawsuit-rider-from-bill/article_bac77467-57c7-5c8d-8179-df3b64565b83.html

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Congressional decision could tie up Wyoming wolf management plan in litigation

http://m.billingsgazette.com/mobile/article_b46a28f5-4039-5053-a58a-943617eef339.html

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Friday news roundup: Prosperous and in Congress

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http://www.hcn.org/hcn/blogs/goat/friday-news-roundup-wealthy-western-lawmakers

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Photo: Courtesy Ann S., Wolf People puppy, Arctica

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: Lummis wolf delisting rider, Congress, no rider in budget bill

Never Forget….

October 3, 2011

As the weekend closes 46 wolves have been slaughtered in the Montana and Idaho hunts and that number is going to skyrocket once the cold weather hits and wolves lose their cover.  Idaho wolf  trapping season begins November 15, the tortures wolves will suffer is beyond measure.  Wolf  families torn apart, their pups killed.

There are vengeful people out hunting wolves.  All you have to do is look at some of the disgusting anti-wolf sites to see the terrible things that are being said. One wanna be “wolf hunter” quoted Wyatt Earp’s famous line from Tombstone:  “You tell ’em I’M coming… and hell’s coming with me, you hear?…”.  Does that even sound rational to you?

There’s a video on YouTube filming a young kid talking about going to Idaho to kill wolves….meanwhile he’s target practicing with a 50 cal.  What??

  Wolf advocates knew this would happen, that’s why we fight so hard to protect them.  It’s a culture war out there and it has little to do with wolves.

Lets not forget who made this all possible. In April of this year 81 US Senators voted to delist wolves via budget rider, stripping wolves in Idaho and Montana of their much-needed ESA protections. It was a bitter betrayal by Senate Democrats.

Interestingly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, allowed separate votes on two other riders in the budget bill.  One sought to defund Planned Parenthood and the other Obamacare. Both were defeated.

Wolves weren’t so lucky. The wolf rider didn’t get a separate vote,  it was the only rider left in the budget bill.  ALL Democrat Senators, save three. voted yea. I watched it on C-Span. Lots of camaraderie and smiles.  It was disgusting.  No mention of gutting the ESA or delisting wolves.

Believe it or not,  just one week before they voted to delist wolves via budget rider “Senators Patty Murray, Dianne Feinstein, Maria Cantwell, Barbara Mikulski, Debbie Stabenow, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Kay Hagan and Barbara Boxer held a press conference” blasting Republicans, for their “tactics” during the budget negotiations.  Apparently they were upset about the budget riders to defund Planned Parenthood and Obamacare but no mention of gray wolves or the ESA.

My message to the Senators, don’t grandstand about something then turn around and do the same thing.  Pot meet kettle.

From the Democrat Daily:

“If the Democratic women in the Senate defeated the use of procedurally unethical tactics to achieve a “radical agenda against women” outside the public debate, they did not succeed in preventing Democratic Senator John Tester’s “divisive policy rider” from stripping endangered species protection from gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. 

In response to this failure, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) lamented: “It is a shameful day for this nation when both parties unite behind the slaughter of an endangered species—without public hearing or debate.”  The NRDC also noted that “Congress has never before removed an animal from the endangered species list.  By replacing scientific judgment with political calculation, the House and Senate have struck at the very heart of wildlife protection in America.”

Thus, under threat of a government shutdown, unprincipled politicians pursued an “extreme social agenda” not just against women, but also against the environment, the Endangered Species Act, the endangered grey wolf, and all Americans who hope for a future in which the integrity of our ecosystems is still preserved.”

I guess the Senators thought they’d pulled a fast one on the American people. After all, the wolf rider was not mentioned on C-Span before the vote, at least I didn’t hear it. If you were watching you’d never know gray wolves in Montana and Idaho were about to lose their ESA safeguards. It seemed Senators were simply voting on an appropriations bill.  The sad truth?  Democrats, with help from Republicans,  were about to gut the ESA and deliver wolves to brutal state management, all under cover of  a hush-hush budget rider.

And we can’t forget Obama, he signed the bill into law. But then what can we expect from a President who appointed a rancher to head the Interior? A President who delisted gray wolves in the Northern Rockies just a few months into his first term.  In fact he has delisted wolves twice in less than four years, not even George Bush can make that claim.

Make no mistake, if the Democrats had not betrayed wolves, they wouldn’t be facing hunts in Idaho and Montana. Even though hunting and ranching lobbies were pushing hard for hunts, without the help of Congress, they wouldn’t be taking place, at least not this year.  And personally I believe they would have continued to lose in court and they knew it too.  So they partnered up with Western politicians, eager to gain mileage from “wolf wars”. The worst sort of politics.

The Senate could easily have stripped the rider out of the budget bill or allowed an up or down vote on it, as  they did for the other two riders.

 In my opinion, Senators didn’t want to “go on the record” and vote for the wolf delisting rider outright, so they tucked it away in the budget bill.  The ESA was used and abused for political gain. For the first time, a species like the wolf, who has a long history of persecution and ultimately extermination in the West, was removed from the Endangered Species List for political reasons, science be damned.

The wolf delisting rider was inserted by Jon Tester to enhance his “anti-wolf” credentials for the 2012 re-election battle with opponent Denny Rehberg. The two are trying to “out-wolf” each other and are now arguing who should get credit for delisting wolves.

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Senate Democrats Who Voted Yes On Budget Bill/Wolf Delisting Rider

Akaka (D-HI)

Baucus (D-MT)

Begich (D-AK)

Bennet (D-CO)

Bingaman (D-NM)

Blumenthal (D-CT)

Boxer (D-CA)

Brown (D-OH)

Cantwell (D-WA)

Cardin (D-MD)

Carper (D-DE)

Casey (D-PA)

Conrad (D-ND)

Coons (D-DE)

Durbin (D-IL)

Feinstein (D-CA)

Franken (D-MN)

Gillibrand (D-NY)

Hagan (D-NC)

Harkin (D-IA)

Inouye (D-HI)

Johnson (D-SD)

Kerry (D-MA)

Klobuchar (D-MN)

Kohl (D-WI)

Landrieu (D-LA)

Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Lieberman (ID-CT)

Manchin (D-WV)

McCaskill (D-MO)

Menendez (D-NJ)

Merkley (D-OR)

Mikulski (D-MD)

Murray (D-WA)

Nelson (D-FL)

Nelson (D-NE)

Pryor (D-AR)

Reed (D-RI)

Reid (D-NV)

Roberts (R-KS)

Rockefeller (D-WV)

Schumer (D-NY)

Shaheen (D-NH)

Stabenow (D-MI)

*Tester (D-MT)

Udall (D-CO)

Udall (D-NM)

Warner (D-VA)

Webb (D-VA)

Whitehouse (D-RI)

Remember these Democrat Senators at the polling booth in 2012, they need to be booted out of office. As a matter of fact every Senator who voted yes should not be invited to serve another term. We need politicians who will resist political pandering. Governing by budget rider is wrong and intolerable. Politically delisting wolves and tearing apart the ESA to please special interests is despicable. Now wolves are paying the price of that betrayal.

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Senate Democrats Who Voted No on the Budget Bill/Wolf Rider

Leahy (D-VT)

Levin (D-MI)

Wyden (D-OR)

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Senate Republicans Who Voted Yes on the Budget Bill/ Wolf Delisting Rider

Alexander (R-TN)

Ayotte (R-NH)

Barrasso (R-WY)

Blunt (R-MO)

Boozman (R-AR)

Brown (R-MA)

Burr (R-NC)

Chambliss (R-GA)

Coats (R-IN)

Cochran (R-MS)

Collins (R-ME)

Corker (R-TN)

Cornyn (R-TX)

Enzi (R-WY)

Grassley (R-IA)

Hoeven (R-ND)

Hutchison (R-TX)

Isakson (R-GA)

Johanns (R-NE)

Kirk (R-IL)

Kyl (R-AZ)

Lugar (R-IN)

McCain (R-AZ)

McConnell (R-KY)

Moran (R-KS)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Portman (R-OH)

Roberts (R-KS)

Sessions (R-AL)

Snowe (R-ME)

Thune (R-SD)

Wicker (R-MS)

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Senate Republicans Who Voted No on the Budget/Wolf Delisting Rider

Coburn (R-OK

Crapo (R-ID)

DeMint (R-SC)

Ensign (R-NV)

Graham (R-SC)

Hatch (R-UT)

Inhofe (R-OK)

Johnson (R-WI)

Lee (R-UT)

Paul (R-KY)

Risch (R-ID)

Rubio (R-FL)

Shelby (R-AL)

Toomey (R-PA)

Vitter (R-LA)

===

*To be fair, I believe many of these Republicans knew the Democrats had the votes to pass the budget bill/wolf rider.  So, they were free to vote no, not because they were wolf lovers  but to make a statement about their dislike of the budget bill.  Some of the names in the no vote column are not known to be wolf advocates.  My 2 cents.

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Senate Independents Who Voted No on the Budget/Wolf Delisting Rider

Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

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This should never have happened. After eight years of George Bush the country was looking for positive change. I think the promise was “hope and change” but instead we got “more of the same.”

It’s ironic, Bill Clinton oversaw the reintroduction of wolves into the Northern Rockies and Obama is overseeing their destruction.

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Endangered Wolves Sacrificed in Budget Deal

Glenn Hurowitz

Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy

Posted: 04/11/11 04:09 PM ET

Although Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama stood firm against Republican attempts to repeal clean air and clean water protections, wolves in the Northern Rockies weren’t so lucky.

Under pressure from ranching interests in Montana and Idaho, as well as anti-wolf zealots in those states, Reid and Obama agreed to accept an amendment from Montana Democrat Jon Tester mandating the removal of grey wolves in Idaho and Montana from the endangered species list. For Obama, at least, the move isn’t surprising: his administration backed the Bush administration’s delisting of wolves even though it would allow the two massive states to cut wolf populations to as few as 450 individuals between them.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-hurowitz/endangered-wolves-sacrifi_b_847673.html

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Tester’s howling error

Congressionally delisting wolves could gut the ESA

by George Ochenski

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

Photo: Courtesy National Park Service

Posted In: Wolf Wars, Howling For Justice, Endangered Species Act

Tags: wolf delisting rider, Senate Democrats , President Obama, Northern Rockies gray wolves, Idaho hunt, Montana hunt, Jon Tester, endangered species act

URGENT: TIME SENSITIVE!! TAKE ACTION FOR OREGON WOLVES NOW!!

It never ends.  If Oregon HB 3636 is signed into law by Governor Kitzhaber it would create the”Wildlife Conservation Fund”? The name is deceiving.

“The bill would create a voluntary fund for killing predators, including wolves and “fur-bearing mammals.”

Killing animals to conserve them? What fresh hell is this?

This would put Oregon’s tiny gray wolf population in extreme danger as well as other fur-bearers likes foxes, bears, raccoons, beavers and more.

From Oregon Wild:

“Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild says that rather than kill endangered wolves, “the state is required to conserve the species.” He says HB 3636 was “designed to fly under the radar” and slipped through unnoticed in the last days of the legislative session. Klavins says that it “hijacks the hunting license system.” He points out that Oregon’s 17 or so wolves already face 28 active landowner kill permits.”

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Contact Governor Kitzhaber and ask him to veto this bad bill. Let him know you are counting on him to do the right thing.

1-503-378-4582

license system.” He points out that Oregon’s 17 or so wolves already face 28 active landowner kill permits.”

You must do this by AUGUST 4th. Time is short. Do it today!! Thank you!!

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WILL GOV OK WILDLIFE KILL FUNDS?

A so-called Wildlife Conservation Fund is actually a wildlife-killing fund, according to Eugene-based Predator Defense and conservation group Oregon Wild. HB 3636 was passed unanimously by the Oregon House and by the Senate, and it awaits Gov. John Kitzhaber’s signature. The bill would create a voluntary fund for killing predators, including wolves and “fur-bearing mammals.” Oregon’s population of less than 20 gray wolves is state endangered species listed. Wolves in the western two-thirds of Oregon are also federally protected.

If Kitzhaber signs the bill into law, the fund would allow people applying for a license, tag or permit from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to make a voluntary contribution for predatory animal control within the counties that the license allows for the person to hunt.

This means the money will go to killing endangered gray wolves, as well as to lethally controlling bear, beaver, raccoons and foxes, among others. Sally Mackler of Predator Defense calls the bill “reckless” and says, “The state is spending a tremendous amount of money on killing wildlife.” Mackler says the amount of money the state spends on killing predators has doubled in the last biennium to about $840,000, but predators are responsible for very few livestock deaths.

Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild says that rather than kill endangered wolves, “the state is required to conserve the species.” He says HB 3636 was “designed to fly under the radar” and slipped through unnoticed in the last days of the legislative session. Klavins says that it “hijacks the hunting license system.” He points out that Oregon’s 17 or so wolves already face 28 active landowner kill permits.

A recent study in the journal Science says that humans’ destruction of top or apex predators like wolves causes previously unknown reverberations including changes in the landscape, increases in wildfires, pandemics and ecosystem shifts. The study called killing predators “humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world.”

The study gives as an example that when wolves returned to Yellowstone National Park it benefited creekside trees, and that without predators to kill deer, the populations explode with consequences such as more deer ticks to spread Lyme disease to humans.

Oregon Wild and Predator Defense are calling on Kitzhaber to veto the bill. Kitzhaber’s press secretary Christine Miles says, “The governor will review HB 3636 before making any decision on the bill.” — Camilla Mortensen

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2011/07/21/news.html#6

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Photo: Creative Commons

Posted in: Oregon wolves, Wolf Wars

Tags: Governor Kitzhaber  Oregon wolves, bad bill HB 3636. Wildlife Conservation Fund, war on wildlife,

Wolf Numbers Declining In Northern Rockies…

ALERT FROM THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

For Immediate Release, March 11, 2011

As Congress Takes Aim, New Numbers Show Declining Wolf Population in Northern Rockies

SILVER CITY, N.M. — The number of gray wolves fell in 2010, according to federal records made public today, declining from an estimated 1,733 in 2009 to 1,651 last year in a population that ranges through Idaho , Montana , Wyoming , Oregon and Washington . The number of breeding pairs also declined from 115 to 111. The decline was largely due to federal trapping and aerial gunning, which killed 260 wolves during 2010.

“The decline in wolf numbers reflects heavy-handed federal management even as wolves remain on the endangered species list,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Despite the decline in numbers, some members in Congress are intent on stripping away their federal protections, even if it means doing so by attaching riders to a must-pass spending bill.”

A 19 percent decline in wolf numbers in Idaho , from 870 to 705 animals, accounted for the regional decline despite slight population growth in Montana (524 to 566) and Wyoming (320 to 343).

In Oregon and Washington , 37 wolves, including three breeding pairs, were counted in 2010, up from 19 wolves in the two states the year before.

Licensed hunters killed 48 wolves in Idaho in 2010 before Aug. 5, when U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy restored wolves to the endangered species list in a case brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and allied conservation organizations.

A rider attached to both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate versions of the continuing resolution spending bill would permanently and irrevocably remove wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains from the endangered species list. If passed, wolves would be the first endangered species to have their protections removed by politicians, as opposed to the science-based process prescribed in the Endangered Species Act.

“Removing federal protections from wolves through a rider would remove all protections for wolves and allow for even more killing,” said Robinson. “Wolf numbers are no longer going up, and there is no supposed emergency that would justify the politicization of a process that’s supposed to be based on science. Congressional wolf delisting would unleash ruthless persecution of wolf parents and their soon-to-be-born pups, and would set a precedent inviting politicians to delist other endangered species that may similarly be in the crosshairs of powerful special interests.”

CLICK HERE for more information.

Photo: Courtesy kewlwallpaper.com

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: wolf numbers declining endangered species act, wolf delisting rider

Support for Wolves and The ESA Is Strong In America, Poll Shows…

Despite the hateful rhetoric. tall tales and downright lies being spewed about wolves from the anti-wolf crowd,  a new poll shows support for wolves  and the ESA is strong in America!!

“Support for the ongoing recovery of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies came in at 78 percent, Goldman says, adding that some people might be surprised by that figure given what the public has heard and read recently.

“I think there’s a small but vocal minority that’s putting out this idea that the wolf is the enemy, and this poll shows the opposite. Americans recognize the gray wolf as part of our wildlife heritage.”

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64% to just 26% of those polled believe:

“The ESA is a safety net providing
balanced solutions to
save wildlife, plants and fish that are at risk of extinction”

while only 29% believe it’s a tool used by environmentalists

=====

Americans also agree by 63% to 29% that:

Decisions about whether to remove
the Endangered
Species Act’s
protections should be based on science, not politics

=======

TAKE NOTE OF THIS POLL US SENATE BEFORE YOU TRY TO PASS ANY WOLF DELISTING RIDERS IN THE BUDGET BILL!!

Poll Finds Strong Public Support for Endangered Species Act…and Wolves

March 11, 2011

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A new poll showing strong public support for the Endangered Species Act comes as the U.S. House of Representatives considers a stopgap federal spending plan that includes removing endangered species protection for the gray wolf.

Wolves don’t live in Connecticut but have been sighted as near as Massachusetts.

The poll also found that 92 percent of respondents felt that scientists, not politicians, should make wildlife-management decisions. Derek Goldman, spokesman for the Endangered Species Coalition, says it’s not a party-line issue.

“Across all political ideologies, Americans support the Endangered Species Act and recognize that it’s a safety net for protecting fish, plants and wildlife that are on the brink of extinction.”

The coalition paid for the poll and did similar polling six years ago with similar results.

Support for the ongoing recovery of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies came in at 78 percent, Goldman says, adding that some people might be surprised by that figure given what the public has heard and read recently.

“I think there’s a small but vocal minority that’s putting out this idea that the wolf is the enemy, and this poll shows the opposite. Americans recognize the gray wolf as part of our wildlife heritage.”

Connecticut lists nine endangered species, including several sea turtles, the right whale and the roseate tern

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/18928-1

CLICK HERE to view poll.

Photo: Courtesy of  Wolf Warriors, Artist K.H.

Posted in: Wolf Wars, endangered species act, gray wolves

Tags: Americans support ESA and Wolves, gray wolf, endangered species act

Meet The Wolf~~Facts Not Fiction….

Wolves have labored under an undeserved, bad reputation through the ages, because of fear, bigotry and persecution by man.  To set the record straight, here are a few things you may not know about wolves.

1. Wolves live in family groups, which include a breeding pair called alphas (mother and father wolves)  Wolf bonds are strong, they hold the pack together. They will lay down their lives for each other. Family is everything to them.

“For the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack”…….Rudyard Kipling

2. Wolves kill for survival not fun.  Predation is the act of killing for food.

3. Wolves’ brains are thirty percent larger than dogs.

4. Wolves are the direct ancestors of dogs. “The domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the gray wolf, differing from it by at most 0.2% of Mitochondrial DNA sequence.  In comparison, the gray wolf differs from its closest wild relative, the coyote, by about 4% of Mtdna sequence….Robert K. Wayne, Ph.D.”

5. Black wolves inherited their coat color from dogs.

6. Wolves kill very few livestock, yet are continually blamed for livestock depredation.  Wolves killed fewer livestock then domestic dogs or vultures.(NASS 06) 

7. Wolves have great stamina, they are the super athletes of the animal world. Wolves can run 25 to 40 miles per hour for twenty minutes at a time. Now that’s an endurance runner.

8. Northern Rockies wolves lost their ESA protections in the Spring of 2009. They were hunted soon after, in the fall of the same year. It’s unheard of to hunt a newly delisted species so soon. It shows Montana and Idaho are NOT suitable “managers” of wolves. State “wolf management” is run by fish and game agencies, who’ve turned our forests and wild-lands into game farms, elevating ungulate numbers, while keeping predator populations low.  Their policies include killing wolves for MINIMAL livestock depredation. Whole packs are destroyed, pups killed. Who kills puppies? Wildlife Services does. They are the extermination arm of the USDA and carry out the states “lethal control” of gray wolves. 

9. In 2009 over 500 wolves lost their lives in the Northern Rockies.

10. Wolves sense of smell is 100 times stronger than humans. They have more than 200 million olfactory cells.

11. Wolves cherish their pups, the entire pack takes responsiblity for raising them. It truly takes a village to raise wolf pups.

Think of Limpy. He tended his babysitting duties with care before he struck out on his own, leaving his natal pack and the safety of Yellowstone National Park. Ultimately he was shot dead, on the very day the then Bush administration lifted ESA protections for wolves, in 2008. HE DIED FOR NOTHING.

12. Wolves may be on the move for 8 to 10 hours per day. A wolf pack can cover over a hundred miles per day.

13. Wolves can and do get kicked in the ribs or risk skull fracture every time they go out for breakfast.

14. Wolves mate for life unless their partner is killed or displaced,  then they may find another mate.

15. Wolf pup mortality is high.

16. Wolves are an indicator species,  who do not adapt well to change. They are NOT coyotes, who are very adaptable.

17. Wolves are apex predators, which means they are at the top of the food chain. They play an integral role in keeping ecosystems healthy.

18. Wolves are the least dangerous of the large carnivores. Fatal wolf attacks on humans are RARE. Domestic dogs kill 20-30 people a year and bite another 4.5 million. Hunting accidents claim approx. 100 lives a year in the US and Canada and wound another 1000 people. An Oregon child was shot in the leg by a hunter while waiting at a bus stop. Cattle kill at least 50 people a year. Deer kill another 150 people annually, in-car crashes and cause over a billion dollars in damage.

19. Wolves were responsible for just 97 cow deaths in Montana in 2009,  out of a population of 2.6 million cattle. The coyote is the main predator of cattle but you would never know it. Even so, coyotes and all predation on cattle are MINIMAL.

Aside from the brutal fact that every single cow raised for food will end up dead, the main cause of cattle losses is non-predation, IE: weather, disease and reproductive issues and theft. 

Can you see how distorted this has gotten? Wolves are not the problem. Bigotry, irrational fear and outright lies directed at wolves, are the problem.

20. Wolves need our support more than ever. Spread the truth about wolves and don’t allow ignorance to flourish. Set the record straight.  I’ve had many conversations with people who mindlessly repeat the same tired myths and half-truths we’ve all heard as if they’re fact.

Humans should hang their heads in shame over the treatment of wolves, using them as scapegoats to justify killing them.

Wolves are trying to survive and live their lives without interference, just like us. 

Please write to local newspapers, speak with state and federal legislators. There is an assault on the ESA in Congress, that would strip gray wolves of their protections. There is no animal on this planet more persecuted then the wolf. Wolves CANNOT survive without the protection of the ESA. Fight for their right to be protected. We are their only voice. 

Why is it animal cruelty to kill domestic dog pups but not  wolf pups?  Think about it!

Listen to wolves howl CLICK HERE

Top photo: fanpop wallpaper

Posted in: Wolf Wars, gray wolf/canis lupus

Tags: Mitochondrial DNA, gray wolf,  Rudyard Kipling, Gray wolf, dog, endangered species act, wolf facts not fiction