Gray Wolf One True Wolf In North America…

                               Gray Wolf, Glacier National Park, NPS

The USFWS  thought it was being clever.  Several years ago they decided they wanted to delist gray wolves across the lower forty-eight but they had a problem.  Before wolves can be delisted they have to be recovered through most of their former habitat. Since gray wolves are basically confined to the Northern Rockies, Southwest, Great Lakes Region and Pacific Northwest, they couldn’t make that claim. So they used a 2012 study that stated there was another species of wolf, the Eastern wolf.

 “A few years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) put forth a controversial proposal to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list. Technical distinctions about wolf species were at the heart of the plan. The FWS argued that gray wolves had been restored in enough of their original habitat. The agency relied on a 2012 study to designate a new species, the eastern wolf, as a separate species from the gray wolf; if that were true, it would mean gray wolves had never lived in the eastern United States, and thus the FWS claimed it wasn’t responsible for restoring gray wolves in that area.”

Their theory was just dealt a severe blow. It turns out the Eastern wolf is really a hybrid, a gray wolf with coyote DNA. There is no other species of wolf in North America but the gray wolf, which means this thwarts the USFWS plan to delist gray wolves across the Continental US. Gray wolves have not been recovered in most of their former habitat.  And almost every time they try to disperse to states like Kansas or Kentucky, they’re shot by a hunter using the mistaken identify excuse or “I thought it was a coyote”. And of course they almost always get away with it. What’s the point of having ESA protection for wolves if there are no consequences when they’re shot illegally? I’d love to hear the answer from USFWS!

The Eastern wolf has been proven to be a hybrid. I’m sure the USFWS is working overtime, using their “pretzel logic” to find a way around this conundrum. DNA is a wonderful thing!

Win one for the wolves!

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North America Has Only 1 True Species of Wolf, DNA Shows

                             Credit: Dan Stahler, courtesy of UCLA

By Megan Gannon, Live Science Contributor | July 29, 2016 07:04am ET

Research by UCLA biologists published today in the journal Science Advances presents strong evidence that the scientific reason advanced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act is incorrect.

A key justification for protection of the gray wolf under the act was that its geographic range included the Great Lakes region and 29 Eastern states, as well as much of North America. The Fish and Wildlife Service published a document in 2014 which asserted that a newly recognized species called the eastern wolf occupied the Great Lakes region and eastern states, not the gray wolf. Therefore, the original listing under the act was invalid, and the service recommended that the species (except for the Mexican gray wolf, which is the most endangered gray wolf in North America) should be removed from protection under the act.

A decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act may be made as early as this fall.

In the new study, biologists analyzed the complete genomes of North American wolves — including the gray wolf, eastern wolf and red wolf — and coyotes. The researchers found that both the red wolf and eastern wolf are not distinct species, but instead are mixes of gray wolf and coyote.

“The recently defined eastern wolf is just a gray wolf and coyote mix, with about 75 percent of its genome assigned to the gray wolf,” said senior author Robert Wayne, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “We found no evidence for an eastern wolf that has a separate evolutionary legacy. The gray wolf should keep its endangered species status and be preserved because the reason for removing it is incorrect. The gray wolf did live in the Great Lakes area and in the 29 eastern states.”

Once common throughout North America and among the world’s most widespread mammals, the gray wolf is now extinct in much of the United States, Mexico and Western Europe, and lives mostly in wilderness and remote areas. Gray wolves still lives in the Great lakes area, but not in the eastern states.

Apparently, the two species first mixed hundreds of years ago in the American South, resulting in a population that has become more coyote-like as gray wolves were slaughtered, Wayne said. The same process occurred more recently in the Great Lakes area, as wolves became rare and coyotes entered the region in the 1920s.

The researchers analyzed the genomes of 12 pure gray wolves (from areas where there are no coyotes), three coyotes (from areas where there are no gray wolves), six eastern wolves (which the researchers call Great Lakes wolves) and three red wolves.

There has been a substantial controversy over whether red wolves and eastern wolves are genetically distinct species. In their study, the researchers did not find a unique ancestry in either that could not be explained by inter-breeding between gray wolves and coyotes.

“If you did this same experiment with humans — human genomes from Eurasia — you would find that one to four percent of the human genome has what looks like strange genomic elements from another species: Neanderthals,” Wayne said. “In red wolves and eastern wolves, we thought it might be at least 10 to 20 percent of the genome that could not be explained by ancestry from gray wolves and coyotes. However, we found just three to four percent, on average — similar to that found in individuals from the same species when compared to our small reference set.”

Pure eastern wolves were thought to reside in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. The researchers studied two samples from Algonquin Provincial Park and found they were about 50 percent gray wolf, 50 percent coyote.

Biologists mistakenly classified the offspring of gray wolves and coyotes as red wolves or eastern wolves, but the new genomic data suggest they are hybrids. “These gray wolf-coyote hybrids look distinct and were mistaken as a distinct species,” Wayne said.

Eventually, after the extinction of gray wolves in the American south, the red wolves could mate only with one another and coyotes, and became increasingly coyote-like.

Red wolves turn out to be about 25 percent gray wolf and 75 percent coyote, while the eastern wolf’s ancestry is approximately 75 percent gray wolf and 25 percent coyote, Wayne said. (Wayne’s research team published findings in the journal Nature in 1991 suggesting red wolves were a mixture of gray wolves and coyotes.)

Although the red wolf, listed as an endangered species in 1973, is not a distinct species, Wayne believes it is worth conserving; it is the only repository of the gray wolf genes that existed in the American South, he said.

The researchers analyzed SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) — tiny variations in a genetic sequence, and used sophisticated statistical approaches. In the more than two dozen genomes, they found 5.4 million differences in SNPs, a very large number.

Wayne said the Endangered Species Act has been extremely effective. He adds, however, that when it was formulated in the 1970s, biologists thought species tended not to inter-breed with other species, and that if there were hybrids, they were not as fit. The scientific view has changed substantially since then. Inter-breeding in the wild is common and may even be beneficial, he said. The researchers believe the Endangered Species Act should be applied with more flexibility to allow protection of hybrids in some cases (it currently does not), and scientists have made several suggestions about how this might be done without a change in the law, Wayne said.

Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of California – Los Angeles. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Bridgett M. Vonholdt, James A. Cahill, Zhenxin Fan, Ilan Gronau, Jacqueline Robinson, John P. Pollinger, Beth Shapiro, Jeff Wall and Robert K. Wayne. Whole-genome sequence analysis shows that two endemic species of North American wolf are admixtures of the coyote and gray wolf. Science Advances, 2016 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501714

Cite This Page:
University of California – Los Angeles. “Should the gray wolf keep its endangered species protection? New genomic research provides the scientific answer.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 July 2016. .

http://www.livescience.com/55586-wolves-only-one-species.html

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The Gray Wolf Is The Only True King in The North

By Carli Velocci

http://gizmodo.com/the-gray-wolf-is-the-only-true-wolf-in-north-america-1784426738

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It turns out the United States has just one true species of wolf

                                     OR7 yearling pup – Courtesy ODFW

Rachel Feltman

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/07/29/it-turns-out-the-united-states-has-just-one-true-species-of-wolf/

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Gray Wolf The Only Species Distinct To North America, Study Says

Alpha female with her pup NPS Alaska

By Mary Pascaline On 07/28/16 AT 7:33 AM

http://www.ibtimes.com/gray-wolf-only-species-distinct-north-america-study-says-2395516

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Gray wolf is the only pure wolf species in North America

                                                    Echo – Courtesy NPS

Submitted by Diana Bretting on Fri, 07/29/2016 – 21:52

http://perfscience.com/content/2144509-gray-wolf-only-pure-wolf-species-north-america

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RED WOLVES

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Posted in: gray wolf, biodiversity

All photos in this post are credited

You Tube: wwwAAASorg

Tags: gray wolf, eastern wolf a hybrid, ESA, DNA study gray wolf, red wolf, USFWS, Echo, OR7

 

Victory! Wolf Delisting Rider Fails To Make It Into Massive Budget Bill!

December 17, 2015

Wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes are safe for now. The sneaky procedure of slipping wolf delisting riders into budget bills didn’t work this time for the congressional wolf haters and their ranching and hunting backers. The behemoth budget bill was supposed to be a vehicle to go around the courts and delist wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming via delisting rider. Supposedly it was not included due to a warning from the White House the bill would be vetoed if there were any changes to the Endangered Species Act. This is shocking since it was the Obama administration who delisted wolves in Montana and Idaho in 2009. He also supported the wolf delisting rider in 2011, that was slipped into an appropriations bill, which delisted wolves in Montana, Idaho and parts of Oregon, Utah and Washington state, without judicial review. Obama is  also challenging Judge Berman’s December 2014 relisting of wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming.  So it was big surprise the wolf rider was not included in the budget bill but it was certainly a welcome change.

This battle is far from over but at least this year there will be no wolf hunts in Wyoming or the Great Lakes. I wish I could say the same about the beleaguered wolves of Montana and Idaho.

Here’s the evil wolf delisting rider that was stripped out of the funding bill.

“Requiring the Secretary of the Interior to reissue final rules to delist wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes region that were overturned by a federal court and exempting those reissued rules from judicial review.”

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Wyoming wolf provision left out of massive congressional budget bill

Associated Press

Updated 19 hrs ago

 U.S. Reps. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, Reid Ribble, R-Wisconsin, and some other lawmakers had hoped to attach a rider to return management of wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Wyoming to the states, which could have opened the door to a resumption of wolf hunting in those places. The provision would have undone federal court decisions that restored the animals’ protected status in the four states despite repeated efforts by the federal government to remove them from the list.

Peterson said budget negotiators dropped the provision from the final bill, which was unveiled late Tuesday, because the White House had threatened a veto if the bill contained any changes to the Endangered Species Act.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” Peterson said. “We thought it wasn’t going to be a problem because the Fish and Wildlife Service was supporting it.”

Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said supporters will have to regroup and decide on their next step. He said a stand-alone bill probably could pass the House but he’s not sure about the Senate. It’s also possible an appeals court could overturn the lower court decisions, he added.

While livestock interests supported removing federal protections for wolves, wildlife groups lobbied against it.

“It certainly was a pleasant surprise,” said Brett Hartl, endangered species policy director with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Backers of the rider were trying to use a tactic that succeeded in 2011 when Congress removed wolves in Idaho, Montana and sections of Utah, Washington and Oregon from the list.

 “Cooler heads prevailed in Congress,” said Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. He said a letter written by Sens. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and Barbara Boxer, D-California, and signed by 23 other senators including Gary Peters, D-Michigan, helped make the difference.

The combined wolf population in the western Great Lakes region is estimated at 3,700, including about 2,200 in Minnesota, while Wyoming has around 333.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled last December that the western Great Lakes states didn’t have suitable plans to safeguard wolves, and that the animals haven’t come close to repopulating their former range. Her decision prevented Minnesota and Wisconsin from holding sport wolf hunting and trapping seasons this fall. Michigan hasn’t held a hunt since 2013. Another federal judge issued a similar decision in September 2014 in a Wyoming case.

The Obama administration, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming are appealing the two decisions. Minnesota is not formally a party to the Midwest case, but the state attorney general’s office filed an amicus brief Tuesday supporting a reversal.

The brief says Minnesota’s wolf management plan will ensure the animals continue to thrive in the state. It says Minnesota’s wolf population and range have expanded to the point of saturating the habitat in the state since the animals went on the endangered list in 1973, creating “human-wolf conflict that is unique in its cost and prevalence.”

A similar appeal is pending in the Wyoming case. Pacelle said his group, which filed the lawsuit in the Midwest case, will keep up the fight.

“This is not the end of the process, but it’s a good outcome because Congress is showing restraint and not trying to cherry-pick a species and remove it from the list of endangered animals,” Pacelle said.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-wolf-provision-left-out-of-massive-congressional-budget-bill/article_77ac09ef-d3a9-5bee-8e43-30cc471ac854.html

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Photo: Courtesy wolf wallpaper

Posted in: gray wolf, Endangered Species Act, biodiversity

Tags: No delisting rider, wolves safe in Wyoming and Great Lakes for now, ESA, budget bill, gray wolf, Great Lakes, Wyoming

Wolf Killing Time Upon Us Once Again

Echo murdered by trophy hunter – 2015

Sadly it’s wolf killing time again in Montana and Idaho. They’ve suffered under the Obama admins. delisting since 2009. Thousands have died and continue to be murdered by trophy hunting thrill killers. Montana now allows individual ranchers or farmers to kill up to 100 wolves annually.

“Private landowners may kill up to 100 wolves a year they believe are threatening livestock, dogs or people under a new state law that doesn’t count toward Montana’s wolf-hunting season.”

The good news is Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan wolves are once again protected under the ESA due to a ruling in December 2014 by “U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell.  Judge Howell stated their removal from the ESA was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated the federal Endangered Species Act.”

Federal judge: Great Lakes wolves return to endangered list

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wolf advocates applauded the ruling Friday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click HERE to read the court’s decision!

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USFWS wants to delist gray wolves across the lower 48, which would put all wolves in serious jeopardy. USFWS can’t protect wolves now, while they’re still listed, as Echo’s death  and many other gray wolves, who continue to be poached, affirms. The USFWS repeatedly allows trophy hunters to use the tired “I thought it was a coyote excuse ” when poaching endangered wolves. But that comes as no surprise.  Do you think the USFWS gives a damn about wolves or their protection?  They’re too busy looking out for  agribusiness interests, not wolves

So the never-ending battle for canis lupus continues. Montana and Idaho wolves are once again running for their lives.

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WOLF HUNT/POACHING 2015/2016

HUNT

Idaho – 4

Montana – 12

Wyoming (Protected ESA)

Wisconsin (Protected ESA)

Minnesota (Protected ESA)

Michigan ( Protected ESA)

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POACHED

Oregon – 2 (‘Sled Springs Pair’)

Utah – Echo

Illinois – 2

New Mexico – 1 Ernesta AF1126

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OTHER

North Carolina – 1 endangered red wolf shot by landowner

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Photo: Echo – Courtesy NPS

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana wolves, Idaho wolves

Tags: ESA, gray wolf hunt, Montana, Idaho, Judge Howell, Echo, wolf persecution, wolf hunts, ‘Sled Springs Pair’, wolf poaching, thrill killing, Ernesta AF1126

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

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

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

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

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    Montana Wolf Hell

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

Idaho Wolf Hell

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

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Montana is a backward wolf massacre state

Opinion

The Billings Gazette

December 17, 2013 12:00 am

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

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

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

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

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

Roger Hewitt

Great Falls

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

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Idaho’s Wolf-Killing Atrocity Continues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click HERE to read more

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Photo: FWS

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Endangered Species Act

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

 

 

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

Putting Out Brush Fires…

Wolf advocacy has been reduced to putting out brush fires. Every day there’s a new crisis or  new campaign to persecute wolves. It goes on and on, draining energy, sending me into dark moods, constantly on the defensive.

I cut back on posting for the last several months for precisely this reason.  It doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the bad stuff but I want to concentrate on solving this crisis, to come up with solutions.

I’m a passionate person, I guess I don’t have to tell you that. When I care about something, I throw myself into it wholeheartedly, as I did this blog, which has  given me a forum to share my passion with you, to give wolf advocates a home where your beliefs aren’t called into question every second, a place where you don’t have to defend your positions and explain why wolves are worth caring about.  I would love to bring you good news every day. To say wolves are doing just fine, that the persecution has stopped and the fairy tale ending has come true. That’s what I wish I could tell you. Unfortunately that’s not the case.

This year has been especially difficult because wolf advocates have had to watch the systematic slaughter of innocent wolves,  while feeling powerless to stop it. That is not a good way to feel. It’s a bad way to feel. And it keeps us grounded in sorrow.  The hunts took a toll on all of us. Gruesome picture after gruesome picture of dead wolves littered the Internet and still do.  The worst is knowing wolves are suffering, the horrors of the past have come home to roost.  Many wolves are tortured to death before they finally subcumb.  Where’s the “code of ethics” hunters say they live by?  Shame on all who torture and kill animals for blood lust.

I don’t want to see one more picture of a dead wolf, I don’t want to hear one more word about elk, I don’t want to hear one more word about cows. I’m sick of it. I’m so sick of it that it makes me sick.

I’m  going to focus on what we can do, not what we can’t do.   I want to feel energized again, as I did when I started this blog. Letting others dictate how I should feel about wolves or why this battle is lost or no matter what we do we can’t change things, that’s not going to be part of my thinking.

I can’t just  hope things will change I want to be part of that change.  Is there too much hoping going on and not enough doing?  I know many people like to rely on hope but doesn’t that somehow free you from having to do anything about the situation?  If you just hope things will change but don’t participate in ways to effect change,  isn’t that a cop-out?

If you love and care about wolves then you’ll want to do something about it. No amount of bad news is going to stop you. I’m not going to give up because MT FWP received a $50,000 dollar donation from the RMEF to help kill wolves. I’m not going to stop standing up for wolves because the anti-wolf crowd was successful in removing their ESA protections.

We’re in a difficult battle that’s not going very well at the moment but it doesn’t mean we should give up and go hide somewhere, pretending it’s not happening.  Let ostriches do that.

I guess what I’m trying to say is we all have a part to play. Things are bad for wolves right now but lamenting over every bit of  bad news keeps us paralyzed.  The best we can do with the bad news is to spread it around  so the uninformed can become informed and join our fight.  Those of us in the trenches already know the sad truth and that’s what gives us strength to keep moving forward in these dark times.  I know the wolf hating crowd is hoping we’ll give up and accept that wolves will be killed by the hundreds every year until they are all gone or their population will be so small and beleaguered only their shadows will remain. Well that’s not going to happen!!

So I’m moving forward. I don’t want to keep begging people in power to give me something. Nobody gives up power willingly. Dealing with the states and their wolf hating mania seems futile to me.  I believe the only way to save wolves is to bypass the states and go directly to the  feds and demand they  right the wrong of wolf delisting, which was rammed through riding on a budget bill.

But none of this will mean anything without the participation of everyday Americans, most of whom are unaware of  the wolves’ plight because the MSM won’t cover it. They’re too in love with Obama to make him look bad, so they’ve chosen to ignore it.  If it wasn’t for the Internet the story would have been completely buried.

We need to concentrate on the big picture and not get bogged down in the minutia of wolf hating policies the states are deluging us with. They’ve proved without any doubt they are incapable of caring for wolves and only want to see their numbers driven to absolute minimums based on an outdated, politically motivated, unscientific “wolf plan”  that’s 17 years old.

So put down the fire hoses, we have work to do.

RELIST GRAY WOLVES!!

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Beyond Hope

by Derrick Jensen

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/170/

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Top Photo: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Bottom photo: Courtesy LA Times

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Activism, Howling for Justice

Tags: relist gray wolves, wolf persecution, scapegoating, fear mongering, America’s wolves

Wolf Delisting Lawsuit Briefs, Alliance For the Wild Rockies

Here are the briefs submitted to the court by Alliance for the Wild Rockies, in support of their lawsuit, challenging the wolf delisting rider.  If successful,  it would find the rider, that was attached to a must pass budget bill, unconstitutional, which I believe it to be.

What the Senate did was egregious. They allowed gray wolves to be thrown under the bus by voting for the budget  bill,  hoping to please Senator Jon Tester, who is running a tight race against Denny Rehberg, for his Senate seat in 2012. In essence Rehberg and Tester are trying to out-wolf each other and capture the  anti-wolf vote. They’re both running on the issue.

The Senate could easily have stripped the rider out of the budget bill or allowed an up or down vote on the rider, as  they did for the other two riders included in the budget bill,  Planned Parenthood and Obamacare.  Senators voted up or down on both those riders and both were defeated but they left the wolf delisting rider in place, which allowed them to vote on the budget bill with the rider still attached.

I think it was sneaky and underhanded.  In my opinion, the 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 stripped of their ESA protections. If any species deserves ESA protection, it’s the gray wolf.

  Only three Democrats voted against the budget bill: e.g., Leahy , Levin and Wyden. Bernie Sanders, (I-VT) voted against it as well. President Obama then signed the bill into law with the rider attached and lo and behold, wolves were stripped of their ESA protections by budget rider.  That’s the whole sad, disgusting story.  The day the Democrats sold out wolves for Jon Tester’s Senate seat. I think he’ll be defeated because he is never going to out-do Rehberg on wolves. The entire exercise of delisting wolves was for nothing.

•Brief, May 31, 2011

http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/news/2011/0531wolfBRF.pdf

•Statement of Undisputed Facts, May 31, 2011

http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/news/2011/0531wolfSUF.pdf

•Reply June 21, 2011

http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/news/2011/0621wolfREP.pdf

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Links to the briefs can also be found on Alliance for the Wild Rockies website.

Please visit AWR and give generously in support of this very important wolf litigation.

Just to remind everyone what this lawsuit it all about I included an opinion piece, which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor in April 2011, which succinctly details the delisting of the Northern Rockies gray wolf via budget rider. It explains why this action by Congress was so egregious and wrong.

The Senate’s reckless disregard for the ESA and the political delisting of wolves,  prompted the mounting of a legal challenge by Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater and WildEarth Guardians, to seek to right the wrong done to wolves by the 112th Congress and the President.

Opinion Christian Science Monitor

True cost of budget deal will be paid in blood – of gray wolves

One of the most unfortunate riders of the recent budget deal is the decision to strip the gray wolf of the protections of the Endangered Species Act. Science has been subordinated to political instrumentalism, setting a dangerous precedent for the future.

By David N. Cassuto / April 19, 2011

Williamstown, Mass.

Many words have been spent on the budget compromise struck between Republicans and Democrats in the 11th hour a couple weeks ago, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. In the days since, details of this budget agreement have slowly emerged, but few actually know what it fully entails – and what it really means for Americans. Perhaps this is because Congress and the president appear to have had a similarly limited understanding of the nature and scope of the cuts they agreed upon.

Nevertheless, President Obama and members of Congress did know that they agreed on a few things having nothing whatsoever to do with the budget, budget cuts, or with federal spending at all. One of the most unfortunate of these “budget” agreement riders is the decision to strip the gray wolf of the protections of the Endangered Species Act. In the 37-year history of the Act, no species has ever been delisted for purely political reasons. Prior to last week, science guided such decisions. Now, science will be subordinated to political instrumentalism, setting a dangerous precedent for the future.

Read More: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0419/True-cost-of-budget-deal-will-be-paid-in-blood-of-gray-wolves

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Photo: All About Wolves

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: Wolf delisting lawsuit, Judge Molloy, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, WildEarth Guardians, Jon Tester, Denny Rehberg, gray wolves, ESA, budget bill

Montana and Idaho Wolves Abandoned….

The future of wolves in Idaho and Montana.

Photo by Lynne Stone, Copyright 2011.

This is the face of trophy hunting, a wolf brutally shot to death for sport. A painful, horrific death.

Wolves don’t go quietly. Can you imagine this happening to your beloved dog?  Since wolves and dogs share 99.8 percent of their DNA, it’s not hard to do.

I know it’s disturbing but this is what Montana and Idaho wolves are facing if the deal, brokered by the “10 settling groups” and USFWS. becomes reality. Or if Congress tacks a delisting rider onto the budget bill.  Or if one of the myriad of anti-wolf bills squeaks through, all wolves could be delisted. Either way, wolves are under attack from all sides. It’s up to us to continue to fight for them.

The budget extension in Congress ends on April 8th. There could be another attempt to push a wolf delisting rider through. We have to gear up for the next  push. I know everyone is emotionally exhausted, especially since the “settlement” was revealed on March 18th but that is out of our hands, it’s Judge Molloy’s decision. We have to focus on Congress and their wolf delisting antics.

Photo by Lynne Stone, Copyright 2011

In 2010 Montana added a wolf archery and back country wolf rifle  season to their hunt. They also raised their quota from 75 to 186 wolves.  Idaho’s bag of tricks included calling, baiting and trapping wolves, allowing snares and leg hold traps.

Who knows how much worse it will get?  Idaho Governor Otter made these statements in October 2010.

Idaho Governor Rejects ESA Wolf Management

Posted on: 10/24/10

In another salvo of the wolf-wars, Idaho’s Governor Otter has ordered state wildlife managers to “relinquish their duty to arrest poachers or to even investigate when wolves are killed illegally.” Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Idaho wildlife officials are the “designated agent” for investigating wolf deaths in the state.

This means Idaho Department of Fish and Game managers will no longer perform statewide monitoring for wolves, conduct investigations into illegal killings, provide law enforcement when wolves are poached or participate in a program that responds to livestock depredations.

CLICK HERE for link to article

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Well come to think of it Montana’s Governor pretty much did the same thing.

Montana Governor States He Will Defy Federal Protections For Gray Wolves….

To remind everyone what Schweitzer said:

“First, for Montana’s northwest endangered wolves (north of Interstate 90), any livestock producers who kill or harass a wolf attacking their livestock will not be prosecuted by Montana game wardens. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) wardens will be directed to exercise their prosecutorial discretion by not investigating or citing anyone protecting their livestock.

Further, I am directing FWP to respond to any livestock depredation by removing whole packs that kill livestock, wherever this may occur.

Still further, to protect the elk herds in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley that have been most adversely affected by wolf predation, I am directing FWP, to the extent allowed by the Endangered Species Act, to cull these wolves by whole-pack removal to enable elk herds to recover.”

CLICK HERE for the link

AND we can’t forget the anti-wolf bill proposed in Idaho that would place a $500 bounty on each wolves’ head. Similar to the $150 bounty Sara Palin placed on wolves lives.

Really, Really Bad News For Idaho Wolves!!

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/really-really-bad-news-for-idaho-wolves/

Whatever the 1o “settling groups” were thinking they weren’t thinking about the welfare of Idaho and Montana wolves!

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Hunting

Managing Wildlife

Unlike what some people might believe, hunting is not an effective method to manage and conserve wildlife. When left alone, nature is very capable of keeping a good balance. Natural predators kill off the sickest and weakest animals. And in cases of overpopulation, starvation and disease are nature’s (unfortunate) way of removing the weakest and bringing back a good balance.

Hunters don’t try to kill only the weaker animals. They often kill the strongest and healthiest animals. They prefer the bucks with the largest rack. The weaker and genetically inferior bucks are left to propagate the species, weakening the overall health of the herd. Killing of a large number of mature males also creates a disproportionate ratio of females to males, impacting the social structure of a herd.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.

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Wolves are demonized for hunting elk, their natural prey but the haters forget to mention the destruction poachers do to wildlife. Wolves kill to survive, they benefit the ecosystem and provide food for other wildlife. What do these lowly slob hunters contribute?

From the Humane Society of the United States

December 29, 2010

Shocking Poaching Cases from 2010

Wildlife crimes ran the gamut from brazen to cowardly

Poaching is not only a crime of cruelty, it is a widespread but largely invisible problem. Many people have never heard the estimate that for every wild animal killed legally by hunters, another is killed illegally.

Wildlife poaching victims could total in the tens of millions annually.

Given that these offenses generally are committed in remote locations, it isn’t surprising that very few cases get solved, despite the skill and dedication of wildlife law enforcement.

You can be part of the solution by becoming aware of these crimes against wildlife and learning how to put officials on the trail of poachers.

To that end, we selected ten poaching cases out of the 56 we publicized—along with offered rewards—in 2010. The countdown provides a glimpse of the range of poaching crimes as well as the tactics some law enforcement agencies use to catch poachers.

10. Undercover investigation in Shannon County, Mo., reveals more than 400 violations

Investigators with the Missouri Department of Conservation set up a taxidermy shop as part of an investigation into illegal hunting. In July they announced that 62% of the people who came into the shop with killed animals were in violation of the law.

9. Poacher in Iberia Parish, La., shoots a threatened black bear who had to be euthanized

Louisiana black bears are a threatened species and it is illegal to shoot one. That didn’t stop a poacher who shot and wounded a female Louisiana black bear so badly that she had to be euthanized. Agents with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division are still looking for the perpetrator(s), and The HSUS has an outstanding $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case.

8. Citrus County, Fla., poaching suspect posts a picture of an allegedly illegally killed deer on her Facebook page

Florida is one of the states becoming more sophisticated in their efforts to combat poaching. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Internet Crimes Unit monitors websites, online bulletin boards, and social media forums to detect criminal activity. They target those who illegally sell wildlife online or who reveal their real-world wildlife crimes via the internet. In 2010 alone, this amazing team made 177 arrests.

7. Elk slaughtered in apparent thrill killing in Grays Harbor County, Wash.

A “thrill killer” illegally shot and killed four elk near Montesanto. Strong penalties for this particularly egregious category of poaching is a top priority for The HSUS and we are working on legislation to upgrade thrill-killing penalties.

6. Black bear poached in Murray County, Ga.; cubs orphaned

In February, a female black bear was killed while hibernating in her den with her newborn cubs. It is believed that the poacher or poachers may have also taken the bear cubs. Officers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are still looking for tips on this case. The HSUS has an outstanding $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

5. Sea otter shot and killed in San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

A young female sea otter was found dead along the beach in Morro Bay. A necropsy revealed that she had been shot in the head with a pellet gun. Wardens with The California Department of Fish and Game are still looking for the poacher or poachers responsible, and The HSUS has an outstanding $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

4. Highly endangered red wolf killed in Dare County, N.C.

In October a red wolf, one of the most endangered wolves, was discovered dead at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. U.S. Fish and Wildlife is still looking for the suspected poacher or poachers responsible for this case and two other illegal red wolf kills that took place in May 2010. The HSUS has an outstanding $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in all three killings.

3. Anonymous poacher taunts law enforcement with pictures of alleged illegal kills in Idaho

Someone who signs his messages “Poacher X” sent images of his illegal kills, including an antelope and a deer, to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game along with a letter claiming that he poached those animals in Northern Idaho and that he “plans to do all his hunting like this from now on.” The HSUS has an outstanding $2,500 reward for information leading to Poacher X’s arrest and conviction.

2. Golden eagle struck with vehicle in Sevier County, Utah; tail feathers cruelly plucked with pliers

The HSUS has an outstanding $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in a cruel poaching case that took place near Salina, Utah. The eagle was severely injured and, despite treatment at the Southwest Wildlife Foundation in Cedar City, Utah, died of his injuries.

1. Convicted felon kills officer during arrest for suspected night hunting in Adams County, Pa.

All wildlife law enforcement officers make sacrifices in their heroic efforts to protect wildlife. They work long hours and are usually paid less than other law enforcement, not to mention the risks of working in remote areas and approaching suspects who far more often than not are carrying a weapon. Those risks became a reality in the case of the tragic killing of David Grove, a wildlife conservation officer in Pennsylvania who, news reports say, was fatally shot while he was arresting a man for suspected illegal night hunting.

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/news/2010/12/poaching_2010_122910.html

STAND UP FOR WOLVES!!

Photos: Courtesy of Lynne Stone, Copyright 2011

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Slob Hunters, Trophy Hunting

Tags: Montana and Idaho wolves abandoned in “settlement”, 10 “settling” groups, Idaho wolves, Montana wolves, evils of trophy hunting, slob hunters, ESA, delisting

Wolf Wars Continues, Prelim.Hearing, Missoula, Montana Today

Today wolves will be front and center in Judge Molloy’s courtroom AGAIN. I’m sure the anti-wolfers will be out in force, waving their signs, complaining about an animal most of them have never seen or ever will see in the wild. But then we all know this  crazy, unrelenting, sick campaign against wolves is at its heart, a culture war. On one side we have the passionate wolf advocates who believe wildlife  has worth, above and beyond killing them for pleasure. We want wolves protected, not a replay of 2009, when 500 wolves died in the Northern Rockies, mainly at the hands of hunters, Wildlife Services and poachers.

On the other side of this war are the anti-wolf forces. They claim wolves have worms (OH MY), they’re Canadian, they’re killing all the elk, they’re killing all the livestock, they’re carrying off children from bus stops, chasing people around in the woods and generally just destroying lives.

Of course this is all Kabuki Theater and pure  BS. The tapeworm they’re so worked up about can be carried by all canines and since we have over 70 million dogs in this country I think they should worry about their house wolves, not the wild ones. Has there been one recorded case of a wolf biologist contracting hydatid disease in this country? I haven’t read of one.  Since wolf biologists handle wolves and wolf scat you’d think they would be dropping like flies, according to the wolf hating crowd.  But you know, facts are pesky things, they get in the way of lies and damn lies.

As for wolves being Canadian, what does that even mean? Wolves have been crossing back and forth across the invisible line that separates the US and Canada for thousands of years. When wolves were exterminated the first time around in the West, they came back to Montana on their own in the early eighties, after the dust had settled and they felt safe enough to make the trip. By that time they were protected under the ESA.  There have been wolves living and denning in Glacier National Park for thirty years, long before they were officially “reintroduced” in 95/96 to Yellowstone and Central Idaho.

Wolves don’t even come close to being a serious threat to livestock. Actually all predation accounts for just 1% of cattle losses and it’s the coyote, not the wolf who is the main predator of livestock. In 2oo9 it was reported coyotes killed 12,000 lambs and 2300 sheep in Montana, while wolves were responsible for a few hundred. I don’t want to demonize coyotes, who labor under terrible persecution themselves, just offering a little perspective on this crazy war on wolves.  Cattle losses from the little coyote “song dogs” are nothing compared to cows dying from disease, calving and weather or being carted off by rustlers. Thousands of cows even drop dead from altitude sickness. But Wolf Wars isn’t about the truth. It about bending the truth. It’s about demonizing an animal who is the least dangerous of all large carnivores. Heck, deer are more dangerous than wolves. They cause hundreds of deaths each year in auto accidents, ringing up billions of dollars in damages.

Moose kill more people than wolves. Bees kill more people than wolves. Hunters kill more people than wolves, there are at least 100 fatal hunting accidents each year in the US and Canada alone, with many more people maimed and injured. But wolves, well they haven’t killed anyone in the lower forty-eight in ONE HUNDRED YEARS. And wolves are shy creatures. They fear man, they’ve been persecuted a long, long time. They want to be as far away from people as possible. You can’t count the wolves in Yellowstone, they’re habituated. They’ve got biologists chasing them around with helicopters to collar them, visitors lined up with their viewing scopes, tracking their every move. Those wolves don’t fear people and that’s sad because if there is another wolf hunt this year, they will be sitting ducks for hunters, just like the famed Yellowstone Cottonwood Pack, who was decimated with the opening of the 2009 hunt. Yellowstone wolves don’t understand invisible park lines and regularly cross back and forth across the boundary. Hunters were literally waiting for them. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Fair chase?

As for wolves killing all the elk, I think hunters have the wrong predator. They should be looking at themselves in the mirror. Fish and game agencies are in the business of keeping ungulate numbers high and predator numbers low.  Why? Because our wild places have been turned into giant game farms  for the pleasure of hunters who like to kill things. Their licensing fees pour into state game coffers. Whose side are these agencies going to come down on, the wolf or the hunter?

Since there are almost 400,000 elk in the tri-state area of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, I don’t think we’ll be running out of elk anytime soon. But in terms of wolves competing with human hunters for the elk killing prize, wolves don’t even come close. And wolves do elk a lot more good than man.  They cull ungulate herds and keep them healthy.

Wolf Wars is about them and us. It’s about outsiders and insiders. It’s about entitlement and egos. It’s about anti-government sentiment. It’s about machismo and dominion. It’s about pretty much everything except wolves.

So the charade plays out. The ten environmental groups who were part of a victory for wolves last summer ran scared when the anti-wolfers figured out they could run an end-round the ESA and encourage  politicians in the wolf states to do their bidding,.  So the big orgs caved and made a deal. A very bad deal I might add.  They gave up so much and got practically nothing in return. They tied their own hands and agreed not to file a lawsuit until 2o16. That is  stunning in its naiveté.

“The plaintiffs have agreed not to challenge any final rule designating and delisting any DPS prior to March 31, 2016. Further, they have agreed not to petition to list either the Northern Rocky Mountains DPS or any wolf population within the NRM DPS within the next three years.”

What makes them think there will be any wolves left in Montana and Idaho in 2016? If the states get a hold of them wolves could be gone by 2o13 or on their way out. Yet these groups were willing to make a deal with wolves’ lives, knowing the brutality that awaits them? Have they not been listening to the Governors of those states and their rhetoric, trash talking the federal wolf management plans?

A special thank you  to the four groups that refused to settle, Friends of the Clearwater, WWP, Alliance for the Wild Rockies and The Humane Society of the United States. You are heroes for standing firm and not running from a fight.

My hope is Judge Molloy will not sign off on this deal. I find it hard to believe he will, having to stay his own decision. Last August he ruled it was illegal to delist one segment of the wolf population while keeping another listed. Now he is being asked to set that aside?

Wolves are once again on the chopping block. It’s more high drama, I’m sure it will sell papers and increase ratings. For wolves the stakes couldn’t be higher. Some days I’m ashamed to be human.

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Federal Judge to Consider Gray Wolf Yet Again

Posted by George Prentice on Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:15 PM

http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2011/03/23/federal-judge-to-consider-gray-wolf-yet-again

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Wolf deal faces first test before Judge Molloy

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press

Thursday, March 24, 2011 5:00 am

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_1f859078-55a2-11e0-b512-001cc4c002e0.html

Photo: Courtesy kewlwallpapers.com

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: settlement, Montana wolves, Idaho wolves, ESA, Judge Molloy, wolf myths

Anti-Wolf Bills Dead But I Won’t Feel Comfortable Until This Congress Goes Home…..

UPDATE: December 23, 2010. Congress has adjourned. We can breathe a sigh of relief and live to fight another day when the new Congress is sworn in!!

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All the bad wolf bills are pretty much dead in this lame-duck Congress but I’m still uneasy about any last-minute stunts the wolf haters may try to pull.  Still with the holidays fast approaching wolves may finally have a few weeks reprieve from the relentless assault that has been going on since the Obama admin. delisted them back in the Spring of 2009. It’s been a long year and a half.

So let’s relax a little and recharge our batteries because these bills will be back next year!!

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Crapo, Risch: Wolf legislation fails, won’t come up again this year

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2010/dec/21/crapo-risch-wolf-legislation-fails-wont-come-again-year/

Photo: Courtesy kewlwallpapers.com

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: anti-wolf bills, Congress, ESA