2009 – Obama Declares War on Wolves…

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Posted in: Wolf Wars, gray wolf

Photo: Why -I-Did-It-Blog

Tags: Obama Administration, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, Wolf Delisting 2009, Northern Rockies, First organized wolf hunt 2009, Northern Rockies wolves delisted 2009, Idaho, Montana

 

 

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

Killing Echo/Killing Wolves: – “Mistaken Identity and Other Excuses: Part Two

Echo

March 4, 2015

Wolves are one of the most social animals on earth, they’re right up there with us, the Great Apes, dolphins, lions, elephants, etc. Their lives are about family. Wolves may disperse from their natal packs between 1-3 years of age but it’s an individual choice. When they do decide to leave they’re prepared to do whatever it takes to find a mate and claim new territory. And that’s when the trouble begins for them.

There’s a reason wolves have been unable to reclaim lost habitat in most of their former range, they’re killed before they have a chance. The Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, Great Lakes and Southwest, where critically endangered Mexican gray wolves  struggle to increase their numbers, are the only areas of the country where gray wolves are successfully breeding and raising pups. BUT in 2009, when wolves in the Northern Rockies were delisted by the Obama administration, their recovery took a very dark turn. Until recent court decisions relisted wolves in Wyoming and then the Great Lakes, they suffered the same fate as their wolf brothers and sisters in Montana and Idaho.

Wolves are hunted with extreme animus, tortured by leghold traps, snares, arrows, bullets, many gut shot to prolong and increase their pain. The ultimate sadism directed at wolves was legalized in Wisconsin, as a twisted form of  dog/wolf fighting. It allowed the use of up to six dogs per trophy hunter to track and trail wolves. It’s not a stretch to believe some hunters let their dogs tear into the wolves, once they were cornered, delivering an even more grisly, frightening and painful death. That’s been put on hold for now, due to  recent court decisions but members of Congress, pandering to agricultural and hunting interests, are already scheming to make an-end-round the courts and pass legislation similar to the 2011 budget bill delisting rider, that removed wolves in Montana and Idaho from the endangered species list.

Life is hard for wolves in this country. The dream of wolf reintroduction has turned into a nightmare for hunted wolves. Idaho’s beleaguered wolf population faces endless wolf hunts that stretch through breeding, denning and pupping season. Hunting quotas have all but been removed in most of Montana and Idaho.  In the Treasure State up to a hundred wolves  can be killed by a single private landowner.

The situation for hunted wolves is not a success story but a tragedy. When wolves attempt to disperse, as Echo did, they usually end up DEAD.

Another barrier to wolf recovery is Wildlife Services, a ghastly federal agency, funded by American tax  dollars. They act as the Department of Agriculture’s killing arm,  destroying millions of animals annually, including  hundreds of wolves. It’s agriculture’s personal hit man-tag-team. Click here, here and here to read the Sac Bee’s expose of this hellacious agency.

Is it a surprise then that wolf recovery has been stopped in most of the country, outside of the areas I’ve mentioned? The odds are stacked against wolves as they face the likes of Wildlife Services, poachers, hostile state governments, hunters and ranchers.  Wolves are trapped by man-made boundaries they dare not cross. Boundaries that hold no meaning for them but ultimately contribute to their deaths.

One of the deadliest threats to dispersing wolves is the “coyote excuse”.  As I stated in part one, using those two words, gives the shooter a perfect alibi. It’s “he said, he said”. Or “she said, she said”. The wolf is dead, it’s the shooter’s word that counts.

What’s so striking about the wolf killings in Kentucky and Kansas  is wolves had been absent from those states for decades and specifically in Kentucky, for 150 years. Instead of celebrating the return of the wolf, she’s shot dead.

The USFWS should be prosecuting these people, to send a message that killing endangered wolves IS NOT OK. Instead they let “hunters” off with the “coyote excuse”. I don’t care what the “coyote hunters” say, if they kill an endangered wolf they should be prosecuted, period! That will send a signal to these numbskulls that shooting endangered wolves has consequences.  But the USFWS continues to fail wolves, they don’t take the killings seriously. It’s pretty clear USFWS is  not interested in gray wolf recovery, that’s why they’re pushing for a national delisting.

And why is it OK to kill coyotes? It’s not.  I’ve seen one too many horrific images of dead coyotes, killed for fun, killed for nothing. Coyotes undoubtedly need protection as well.

It’s a slap in the face to wolf and wildlife advocates that the agency charged with protecting wild wolves looks the other way when wolves are killed with impunity, meting out almost no punishment, even though the ESA clearly states:

– authorizes the assessment of civil and criminal penalties for violating the act or regulations; and

– authorizes the payment of rewards to anyone furnishing information leading to arrest and conviction of ANY violation of the act or any regulation issued there under.

A mockery has been made of the ESA concerning wolves. it’s a joke to think they’re protected, when time and again they’re killed as they attempt to disperse, just as Echo’s sad story proves.

Unless and until the American people stand up to the Interior Department and Congress, nothing will change. The system is broken and corrupt and needs a complete overhaul.

Here are a just a few examples of what happens when wild wolves dare to disperse from their natal packs, in search of a mate and new territory. It’s the wolf version of Russian Roulette.

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UTAH

Echo shot dead by coyote hunter using “coyote excuse”.

Her death was a tragic blow to wolf recovery, being the first confirmed wolf to inhabit the Grand Canyon in 70 years.

First Gray Wolf Spotted At Grand Canyon In 70 Years Shot Dead By Hunter

BY ARI PHILLIPS POSTED ON FEBRUARY 12, 2015 AT 2:59 PM UPDATED: FEBRUARY 13, 2015 AT 8:54 AM

Officials have confirmed that the first gray wolf seen around the Grand Canyon in 70 years was killed in December by a hunter in southern Utah after he mistook it for coyote. The three-year-old female, named “Echo” through a contest held with hundreds of schoolchildren, was the first gray wolf to be spotted in the region since the 1940s. After being collared in Wyoming in early January 2014, the wolf had ventured at least 750 miles into the new territory — further evidence that gray wolf populations are coming back from the brink of extinction after decades of reckless killings.

“The fact Echo had ventured into new territory hopefully signifies that there is still additional habitat where this vulnerable species can thrive and survive,” Nidhi J. Thakar, deputy director of the public lands project at the Center for American Progress, told ThinkProgress.

The coyote hunter who shot Echo, and whose name has not been released, reported the killing to authorities as an accident. Gray wolves are on the Endangered Species Act and it is illegal to kill them anywhere in the U.S. except Idaho and Montana, eastern Washington and Oregon, and northeastern Utah. According to the Center For Biological Diversity, this partial removal of federal protections in the Northwest has lead to the deaths of thousands of wolves through state-authorized hunting and trapping in recent years. Congress is now considering a legislative rider that would preclude protecting wandering wolves like Echo, according to the wildlife conservation group.

“Echo’s killing illustrates the perils that wolves face and the imperative to maintain federal protections as called for under the science-based standards of the Endangered Species Act,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Keeping wolves on the endangered list is the basis for the public education we need, to enable more wolves to live and thrive and minimize conflict.”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/12/3622423/famous-grand-canyon-gray-wolf-shot-by-hunter/

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*Warning graphic images

Kentucky

Wolf shot dead using “coyote excuse”.

“In Kentucky, the first gray wolf seen in 150 years was shot dead last August….earth first newswire

Wild Wolf in Kentucky, First in 150 Years, Killed by Hunter

by Russ McSpadden / Earth First! News

“This photo posted on KentuckyHunting.net shows the first wolf to wander Kentucky in over 150 years, dead and exhibited as a trophy”..earthfirstjournaldotorg

earthfirstjournaldotorg

According to a recent announcement by state wildlife officials, a 73-pound, federally endangered female gray wolf was shot dead by a hunter in Munfordville, Kentucky earlier this year. Were it Alaska or Idaho this wouldn’t be news, but Kentucky has not seen wild roaming wolves since the mid 1800s.

 “Wildlife officials identified the man who killed the wolf as Hart County resident James Troyer, who shot the animal believing it to be a coyote.”

Read More:

http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2013/08/19/wild-wolf-in-kentucky-first-in-150-years-killed-by-hunter/

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Kansas

80 pound wolf killed using the “coyote excuse”. This was the first wolf confirmed in Kansas in 108 years.

Coyote hunters kill 1st wolf in Kansas since 1905

Wolf killed in December in northwest Kan.

Published  6:00 PM CST Feb 02, 2013

TOPEKA, Kan. —Coyote hunters have killed a wolf in northwest Kansas, the first documented wolf in the state since 1905.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the wolf was killed in December. The animal weighed more than 80 pounds, more than twice as much as a large coyote.

 Read More: http://www.kmbc.com/news/Coyote-hunters-kill-1st-wolf-in-Kansas-since-1905/18390636

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Missouri

Wolf killed in Missouri using the “coyote excuse”. Third gray wolf killed there in the last 13 years.

Hunter kills Gray Wolf in central Missouri

POSTED 6:17 PM, JANUARY 15, 2014, BY CHRIS SMITH, UPDATED AT 06:14PM, JANUARY 15, 2014

HOWARD COUNTY, MO. (KTVI) – This past fall a man from southeast Missouri killed what he thought was coyote on his property in Howard County, which is near Columbia, Missouri.  But, after a closure inspection of the animal, he thought it was something else.

The Missouri Department of Conservation says that the man killed a Gray Wolf. This is a  Federally protected species.  DNA confirms the wolf is from the Great Lake states.  Officials think the wolf may have wandered down from Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan. The animal was not tagged and is not believed to have been a captive animal.

This is the third Gray Wolf killed in Missouri over the past 13 years.  Many of them were shot by hunters mistaking the wolves as coyotes.

http://fox2now.com/2014/01/15/hunter-kills-gray-wolf-in-central-missouri/

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Colorado

Wolf Poisoned

Dispersing Mill Creek Pack female wolf poisoned by Wildlife Service’s deadly 1080 compound. 

Compound 1080…. “is one of the horrific poisons Wildlife Services uses in its arsenal to kill our wildlife.”

The Amazing Journey and Sad End of Wolf 314F (UPDATE)

October 16, 2009

I posted this story in October 2009 about an amazing little Mill Creek Pack wolf, who traveled 1000 miles from her home in Montana to a lonely hillside in Colorado, called “No Name Ridge”, where her bones were found.

Her death has been under investigation by USFWS all this time.

Finally, after almost two years,  it was announced she was poisoned by the deadly compound 1080. It is one of the horrific poisons Wildlife Services uses in its arsenal to kill our wildlife.

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/the-amazing-journey-and-sad-end-of-wolf-314f/ 

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Washington

Wolf shot for existing

Whitman Co. farmer could face charges for killing wolf

 Joshua Babcock Murrow News Service10:09 a.m. PST November 29, 2014

Washington fish and wildlife officials are recommending a Whitman County farmer face misdemeanor charges for shooting a gray wolf last month.

The charge could result in a year in jail and a two-year suspension of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses.

Steve Crown, chief of enforcement for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the shooter was a farmer who also notified authorities. Crown said it is unclear why the farmer shot the wolf, as it did not appear to pose an imminent danger to pets, livestock or the farmer.

Crown said this is the third wolf shooting this year in Washington.

“If it’s just in the area, it’s not open season for wolves,” Crown said.

Read more:

http://www.krem.com/story/news/local/whitman-county/2014/11/28/whitman-co-farmer-facing-charges-for-killing-gray-wolf/19641521/

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Illinois

Wolf or Wolf hybrid hit By A Car

Wolf?! found at Morris – Probably a hybrid

This 48-inch long, wolf-like canine was found, apparently hit by a vehicle, on Nettle School Road, just northwest of Morris on Feb. 13. Measurements have been taken determine if it matches common wolf dimensions and DNA testing may be done.

Posted: Friday, February 20, 2015 9:03 am

Robert Themer
rthemer@daily-journal.com

A large, wolf-like animal found dead on a roadside north of Morris last Friday “looks like it might be a hybrid of some sort,” says Illinois Department of Natural Resources district wildlife biologist Bob Massey.

“It has characteristics of coyote, dog and wolf,” Massey said Wednesday, after IDNR sent out a news release about the animal being found along Nettle Creek Road, north of Interstate 80, early on Feb. 13. The site was a couple miles northwest of Morris, Massey said.

The animal was found by a some guys heading to a hunt club, who then called, he said.

Massey has measured the animal and sent the information off to a wolf biologist in Wisconsin.

“If it falls within the parameters of wolf size, we will send it for DNA analysis by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” he said.

http://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/wolf-found-at-morris—probably-a-hybrid/article_c1f521e0-439e-528b-821f-096908694708.html

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North Carolina 

10 Red Wolves killed by “coyote hunters”

10 highly endangered Red wolves were “confirmed or suspected gunshot deaths since the start of last year.”  Once again the “coyote excuse” was used.

Highly endangered red wolves being shot with impunity – only 100 wild red wolves left in North Carolina. Apparently these yahoos will shot any wolf they can.

Endangered red wolf shot in NC, 10 in past year

WCNC Staff, WCNC.com3:34 p.m. EST January 13, 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The death toll for endangered red wolves continues to mount near their North Carolina refuge.

Federal and state wildlife agencies said Monday that another red wolf was found shot to death last week in Tyrrell County. That makes 10 confirmed or suspected gunshot deaths since the start of last year.

There are only about 100 red wolves roaming an area in Tyrrell and four other northeastern North Carolina counties where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been trying to restore the animals in the wild.

The state Wildlife Resources Commission this summer allowed coyote hunting in the same five-county area, but hunters easily confuse the two animals.

A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments next month in a lawsuit by conservation groups seeking to stop the coyote hunting.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/13/endangered-red-wolf-shot-in-nc-10-in-past-year/

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New York

Coyote killers even shoot horses – no animal is safe!

Lousy Coyote Hunters Shoot Horses, Licences Seized

(not horses killed)

18 Feb, 2015 – CONRAD BAKER

SPARTA – The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has revoked two individuals’ hunting licenses for three years and issued a monetary penalty after the hunters shot and killed two horses on Jan.24, violating state Environmental Conservation Law.

Read more:

http://www.geneseesun.com/2015/02/18/lousy-coyote-hunters-shoot-horses-licences-seized/

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Demand Justice for Echo

author: Center for Biological Diversity

target: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe

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It’s as we feared. 

DNA analysis shows that the gray wolf gunned down in Utah last December was Echo, the Grand Canyon wolf. Echo wandered more than 750 miles from the Rocky Mountains to find a mate. When she made her historic appearance on the Grand Canyon’s north rim in 2014 she became the first wolf spotted there in more than 70 years.Just three weeks before her killing she received the name “Echo” through a naming contest entered by hundreds of schoolchildren around the world who were fascinated by her journey.But hopes of seeing gray wolves reestablished near Grand Canyon died when a hunter shot her dead, claiming to have mistaken her for a coyote.

Wolves are an endangered species in Utah, but hunters are rarely, if ever, punished when they illegally kill animals supposedly mistaken for unprotected wildlife species.

Demand justice for Echo.

Tell the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that Echo deserves justice and he must do everything in his power to investigate and prosecute this callous and tragic shooting.

Click link to sign for Echo!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/775/624/120/

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Visit Bold Visions Conservation! 

 BOLD VISIONS CONSERVATION

IS FIGHTING FOR WILDLIFE!

THE BOLD VISIONS CONSERVATION MISSION

Bold Visions Conservation was created for the protection of land, water and wildlife.

Bold Visions Conservation exists to infuse a creative and bold energy into protecting wildlife and our environment.

Understanding, as John Muir did the importance of the “web of life” and the value of large protected areas, both on land and across our oceans as vital to responsible stewardship. We take our responsibility seriously to share our planet with all species of life and believe that we must instill passion in our effort to pass Earth’s bounty on to future generations.

 http://www.bvconservation.org/members-donate.html

and

Speak For Wolves

http://www.speakforwolves.org/

Get involved, make a difference for wolves and wildlife before it’s too late!

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More reasons to effect permanent change!!

Congress Takes Aim at Gray Wolves

Two new bills would strip the predator of endangered species protections.

When it comes to saving certain iconic endangered species, such as bald eagles, Americans embrace the effort wholeheartedly. There was resistance to ending the use of the pesticide DDT, the leading culprit in their decline, but it happened. Now bald eagles have recovered to the point that they’re off the federal list of endangered species. A pair is even nesting in New York City’s busy harbor.

Wolves are a different story. Although gray wolves are an equally potent symbol of freedom and nobility, American style, this week saw two efforts kick off in the House of Representatives to end endangered species protections for the species.

Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., on Thursday introduced legislation to force the United States Department of Interior to remove gray wolf populations in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan from the federal endangered species list. Three Democrats are among the bill’s14 cosponsors.

Wolves are an immediate threat to “domestic animals, farm animals and, quite frankly, children,” Ribble said last month, according to E&E News.

Another Midwestern lawmaker, Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., signed on to Ribble’s bill and introduced his own earlier in the week. Kline’s measure goes one step further by proposing to “prohibit treatment of gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan as endangered species.”

That phrasing seems calibrated to make Great Lakes gray wolves ineligible, forever, for protection under the nation’s key wildlife conservation law, as well as to end-run any court orders that might demand their protection.

Ribble’s measure, by contrast, would not stop conservationists from petitioning for wolves’ protection or federal conservation officials from returning the Great Lakes or Wyoming wolf populations to endangered status.

Similar legislation in 2011 forced the end of federal protections for wolves in Idaho and Montana, and the Center for Biological Diversity has stated that more than 1,956 wolves have been killed in the two states since.

Protecting a species under federal law is usually time-consuming and complicated. So Ribble’s measure, if passed, might still mean years of state management for these wolf populations, and that’s not a welcome prospect for the animals’ advocates.

“This bill would turn over the keys to wolf recovery to four states that have made it clear they’re more interested in killing wolves than saving them,” Brett Hartl, endangered species policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

After protections for the Great Lakes and Wyoming wolves ended in 2011 and 2012, more than 1,600 animals were killed under state management plans, the center said, “likely contributing to a 25 percent decline in Minnesota and a 9 percent decline in the northern Rockies.”

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Federal Legislation Would Strip ESA Protections for Gray Wolves

February 12, 2015

The Humane Society of the United States urges Congress to keep wolves protected and for USFWS to Downlist to Threatened

Representatives from Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming introduced legislation that would remove gray wolves in those states from the Endangered Species list. This legislation comes on the heels of two recent court cases that placed wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming back under federal protection due to overreaching state management programs that jeopardized wolf recovery. It is the first of several bills expected to be introduced this Congress seeking to weaken protections for wolves and to subvert a series of federal court rulings that determined that the federal government has too narrowly segmented wolf populations and that the states had overreached in their trophy hunting, commercial trapping, and hounding programs.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, issued the following statement in response:

“This legislation is an end-around a series of federal court rulings that have determined that state and federal agencies have acted improperly in acting to delist wolves.  This bill is just a the latest act of political bomb-throwing and gamesmanship, and lawmakers who want balance on the wolf issue should reject it.

Read More: 

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/news_briefs/2015/02/esa-protections-wolves-021215.html

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Top Photo: Courtesy Arizona Game and Fish

Kentucky wolf photos: Courtesy Earth First Newswire

Middle Photo: wolf/wolf hybrid Courtesy newsjournaldotcom

Red wolf photo: Courtesy Wiki

Horse photo: Courtesy Wiki

Bold Vision logo: Courtesy Bold Vision Conservation

Bottom Photo: Courtesy Earth Island Journal

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Endangered Species Act, biodiversity, Activism

Tags: Echo,  “coyote excuse”, dispersing wolves poached, wolf recovery, USFWS, Congress, Utah, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina, Illinois, North Carolina, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, abusing the ESA, change needed, Bold Visions Conservation, Earth Island Journal

The Hate Wolves Face in Idaho….

There are no words for such hate!

What a betrayal by Congress and the Obama administration that they turned their backs on wolves and handed them over to their mortal enemies on a silver platter. I wonder how they sleep at night?

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Photo: Courtesy NPR (Martin Kaste)

Posted: Wolf Wars

Tags: wolf hate, wolf persecution, Idaho

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

 

 

1827 Dead Wolves -Northern Rockies/Great Lakes 2013/early 2014

Update: November 21, 2014

Putting this all together, adding the current 2014 wolf mortality numbers of 443, plus the 1827 wolves killed during 2013/early 2014, minus the 11 wolves who died of natural causes, adds up to 2256  wolves killed between January 2013 and November 21, 2014. They were wiped out by hunters, poachers, Wildlife Service control actions, ranchers and accidents. I believe the numbers are much higher than this. Many more wolves have been killed illegally and will never be counted, so we can only speculate on those numbers but I’m sure they’re not insignificant.

 In less than 23 months over 2200 wolves have been killed! This is an absolute outrage. Wolves cannot sustain these high mortality rates. Something must  be done to stop the carnage.

In the coming days I’ll be exploring a way in which wolf advocates may be able to challenge this slaughter. It’s been written about and discussed but hasn’t been tested.

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November 20, 2014

My previous post dealt with the ongoing number of wolves killed in 2014. This post deals with total 2013/early 2014 wolf mortality in the Northern Rockies/Great Lakes.  It’s a huge number! A slaughter!  What’s behind this madness? It’s certainly not because wolves are harming humans or are a threat to the livestock industry.

From Wildearth Guardians:

Livestock Losses

Cattle

Myth:  Wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, and others kill lots of cattle.

Truth:  Less than a quarter of one percent, 0.23%, of the American cattle inventory was lost to native carnivores and dogs in 2010, according to a Department of Agriculture report.

The government’s own data show that the real killers of cattle are not a few endangered wolves or other wildlife – it’s illness and weather.  Yet, the predation myth has directly contributed to a federal, 100-year, paramilitary assault on millions of native carnivores.

The livestock predation myth is a big lie imposed on the American public. While lethal predator control does little to help the fat cats of agribusiness, it ensures that the USDA-Wildlife Services stays in business. While the feds assault millions of our native wolves, bears, cougars, and coyotes, the true cattle killers are illness and weather.  The Wildlife Services’ lethal predator control program must end, and the taxpayers, wildlife, and wildlands will reap the benefits.

Read the full report here

Wolves are being wiped out in record numbers, driven by a hate filled anti-wolf movement . Their numbers are small but unfortunately for wolves, the haters dominate policy in wolf states. They also have powerful allies, like The Safari Club, The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife, Cattlemen’s Association, etc.  The profit motive is also driving the killing machine. State fish and game agencies win in two ways, a top predator is killed off to inflate ungulate numbers for their customers, the hunters and the state makes money off the sale of wolf hunt tags. Wolves are also the target of ranchers, Wildlife Services and poachers. Anywhere wolves turn,  they’re in danger. Even Yellowstone National Park wolves aren’t safe. Many collared park wolves have been shot by hunters when they step one toe outside the park. The most famous wolf in the world, the Lamar Canyon alpha female, better known as O6 (her birth year), was killed by a hunter’s bullet.

No wolf is safe in America.

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Northern Rockies: 2013 Wolf mortality

Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery
Program 2013 Interagency Annual Report

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Northern Rockies or NRM -2013 Wolf Mortality

In 2013,  922 wolves were killed in the Northern Rockies. This USFWS chart, shows the breakdown of  wolves mortality in each state. Hunting (Harvest), Control, Human (Poaching/Accidents), Natural Causes, Unknown.

Idaho – 335 wolves

Montana – 473 wolves

Wyoming – 109 wolves

Oregon – 3 wolves

Washington – 2 wolves

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Total 2013 Northern Rockies:  922 dead wolves

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf/annualrpt13/reports/FINAL_NRM-Sum2_2013.pdf

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Great Lakes -2013/early 2014 Wolf Mortality

Unlike the Northern Rockies, the Great Lakes states combine 2013/2014 wolf mortality  numbers.  In my previous post I did not include the 2013/2014 wolf hunt mortality numbers in that total.

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Minnesota 

2013/2014 Hunt 238 wolves (previous hunt in 2012 killed 413 wolves)

2013/2014 Control Actions 127 wolves killed (previous control actions in 2012 killed 295 wolves)

*No numbers for poaching, accidents or natural mortality

Total wolf mortality Minnesota 2013/2014: 365 wolves

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Wisconsin

Wolf hunt 2013/2014: 334 wolves

Control actions 2013/2014: 65 wolves

Total wolf mortality Wisconsin 2013/2014: 429 wolves

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Michigan

Wolf hunt 2013 : 23 wolves

Control actions: Since there’s no breakdown on the number of wolves killed in control actions between 2012-2013 I’m going to half the 73 control action numbers to 36 for 2013.

*No numbers for accidents, poaching or natural mortality.

 Total wolf mortality Michigan 2013: 109 wolves

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Great Lakes/Total Wolf Mortality 2013/early 2014 – 903 wolves

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Illinois

March 2013, 1 radio collared female wolf, from Wisconsin, found dead

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North Dakota

1 year old male wolf killed by a deer hunter -2013

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/monitoring/pdf/Year1PDMReportSept2014.pdf

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Total wolf mortality Northern Rockies/Great Lakes – 2013/early 2014

1827 dead wolves!

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Top photo: USFWS

Bottom Photo: Idaho Wild Wolf Images Copyright 2011

Posted in: gray wolf, Wolf Wars, Animal cruelty

Tags: Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, wolf hunts, wolf poaching, wolf persecution, wolf slaughter

426 Wolves Wiped Out in 2014 and It’s Not Over…

Update: November 21, 2014

443 wolves killed 2014

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 November 18, 2014

426 wolves have been wiped out since the beginning of 2014. Pups, alphas, whole packs, gone. The majority have been slaughtered in the ongoing  Idaho, Montana, Minnesota and Wisconsin wolf hunts. 17 wolves were killed in Wyoming’s “predator zone” before a federal judge recently relisted them. 3 wolves were killed in Washington state, even though they’re “protected” there. The Huckleberry Pack alpha female was shot by a WDFW sharpshooter from the air, the alpha female of the Teanaway Pack and a female wolf from the Smackout Pack, were both poached.  And I’m not even counting wolves killed by Wildlife Services this year or wolves killed in the 2014 part of the 2013/2014 hunts. That would push the total much higher.

The saddest part of all this are the hunts are far from over. Wildlife Services killings are not over.

This has to stop, we are traveling down that long, dark road of wolf eradication.

Please don’t give up on wolves, be their voice!  Speak out for them, they’re suffering, in the cold, in traps, shot, snared, torn from their families! We must work to end this nightmare! We are their only voice!

For the wolves, For the wild ones,

Nabeki

Killing Wolves

Earth Island Journal Stands Up For Wolves

Summer is almost over and instead of wolves being allowed to raise their young pups in peace they’re being subjected to pain, suffering and death because wolf hunting season is upon them once more.  This will be the fourth wolf hunt in Montana and Idaho, there would have been five but Judge Molloy relisted wolves in the Northern Rockies in 2010, stopping the fall hunt. It was a short-lived victory because Senate Democrats passed a wolf delisting rider (with no judicial review) in the Spring of 2011. The rider was sneakily tacked onto a budget bill and all Democrat Senators, save three, voted for it. Obama signed it into law, effectively ending the ability of advocates to fight the delisting in court.

Here are the links to  fish and game agencies who promote and profit off the killing of wolves for sport.  The Idaho hunt started on August 30th but in reality wolves are hunted somewhere in the state year round. Montana wolf archery started on Sept. 6,  it makes me sick to think wolves are being shot at with compound bows and broad head arrows. In Wyoming’s wolf predator zone, wolves can be killed 24/7, 365 days of the year, by any means. Wisconsin is allowing wolves to be hunted with dogs, basically legalizing dog fighting.  The brutality has begun again!

Since mid-term elections are right around the corner you might want to click here. It lists who voted for the 2011 wolf delisting rider. Then in November, you’ll know exactly who betrayed wolves and vote them out of office!

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Idaho – IDFG – Wolf Hunt started on August 30, 2014

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/hunt/?getPage=121Idaho 

 

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Montana – MFWP – Wolf Hunt by Archery started on Sept. 6, 2014

 

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

 

 

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Wyoming  – Predator Zone – Wolves can be killed 365 days of the year, 24/7 by any means.

 

http://wg -fd.wyo.gov/web2011/Departments/Hunting/pdfs/WOLF_SUMMARY0005898.pdf

 

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Minnesota – DNR – Hunt starts November 8th, 2014

 

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/wolf/index.html

 

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Wisconsin – DNR – Hunt starts October 15, 2014 (Wolves can be hunted with dogs)

 

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/wolf.html

 

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Trophy Hunting, Legalized Animal Cruelty

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/trophy-hunting-legalized-animal-cruelty/

 

Dead Wolf Image Emailed To Wolf Advocate on Christmas Eve 2009 With The Caption “Merry Cristmas”

Remembering the Basin Butte Pack Thanksgiving Week Massacre….

Basin Butte wolf “Little Sis”

July 22, 2014

It’s been almost five years since the Basin Butte pack was gunned down, during Thanksgiving week, in Stanley, Idaho.

I hope you will remember these wolves and the cruel, disgusting agency that took their lives. Wildlife Services must be abolished and defunded. They’re an extermination arm of the Department of Agriculture, killing millions of animals annually for agribusiness. They do horrific damage to gray wolves and other native wildlife.

I will be paying tribute this week to the wolves and wolf packs who’ve have been slaughtered in wolf hunts, by Wildlife Services, poachers and ranchers.

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Thanksgiving Week Massacre of The Basin Butte Wolves

A Basin Butte wolf pup, 6 months old.

December 6, 2009

This is an account of Idaho’s popular Basin Butte wolves and their tragic end, as told to me by Idaho friends.

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Thanksgiving week 2009, everyone was busy planning their holiday with family. It was a time for reflection and thanks. But over a two-day period, November 23 & 24, in Stanley, Idaho, Wildlife Services launched a covert operation that is now known as the Thanksgiving Week Massacre. Wildlife Services (WS) is a misnamed federal agency that kills wildlife for the benefit of agriculture, mainly the livestock industry.

Locals watched in horror as WS agents, in a plane and red helicopter, chased down and shot dead seven members of the Basin Butte wolf pack. Two wolves were killed on a rancher’s private property, the rest on National Forest land.  Among the Thanksgiving week victims were the pack’s mother, B171 “Alpha Fe”, her three seven-month old PUPS and three other wolves. A total of ELEVEN Basin Butte wolves have been killed since late July.

Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountain country, called the Sawtooth National Recreation Area(SNRA), was once in line for National Park status. Instead, in 1972, it became an “NRA” (National Recreation Area). As a result, cattle and sheep graze across much of the 756,000 acres. Cattle ranchers have tremendous political power in this area, which is the reason for the Basin Butte wolves demise on that fateful Thanksgiving week shoot-out.

Background:

The Basin Butte wolf pack was formed in 2006 with three adults and five pups. Wolf supporters stepped in to keep the wolves away from the thousands of cattle that summer in the high country around Stanley, Idaho. This continued for the next three years. There were no depredations in 2007, but some close calls. Sick or injured cows and calves are easy targets for wolves. Things started going to hell in 2008 after a ranch hand shot a Basin Butte wolf called “Little Sis”. She was hunting squirrels 200 yards away from a herd of cows. The cow hand was given a warning by Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game (IDFG) law enforcement, which apparently upset the hand’s boss, a powerful rancher.

Next, the pack, now consisting of 13 wolves, were seen moving toward a remote area, behind private property. Suddenly the wolves were accused of killing cows and calves belonging to the irate rancher. In July 2008, Wildlife Services convinced IDFG to give the ok to spring into their deadly trapping and killing mode. Before the 2008 grazing season was over, up to 8 Basin Butte wolves were dead. One beautiful wolf, “Uncle” – the babysitter to the pack’s pups, was mangled and crippled, shot by a Wildlife Services agent using an automatic 12 gauge.

One last winter:

The wolves had one last winter in the scenic country they called home. Many locals and visitors alike, delighted in seeing the wolves and hearing them howl. The pack was highly visible, as the Druids are in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone. The wolves were known by their given names: Alpha Fe, Papa, Bobtail, Red, Marymag, Smoky and more.

Tourists come in winter to Stanley, a tiny town of 100 people and one of the coldest places in the Lower 48, to ski, wildlife watch, snowmobile and see the Basin Butte wolves. But, it’s still tough for businesses to make it, and many locals were hoping wolf viewing would eventually bring more tourists and their dollars. Summer is the only time when tourists come in numbers, over two million people, according to SNRA staff. Wolf watching is the untapped golden egg that could make Stanley boom in the winter months, especially since much of the terrain around town is wide open. It’s perfect for setting up spotting scopes and watching wolves. But in 2009, the ranchers and Wildlife Services had other plans.  When wolf supporters scared the wolves away from cattle on public land, the ranchers went to law enforcement and complained. Surveillance cameras were set up by the local deputy to try to catch anyone driving by or stopping near the cattle, even on PUBLIC land!

The wolves were accused of killing a calf and a cow in July. Wildlife Services, who had been lurking around Stanley waiting for action, trapped and shot two yearling wolves. The angry rancher allowed WS to cross his private property, so they could access a remote area where traps could be set, mostly out of view of the public.

Then on September 1, Idaho opened their seven month-long hunting season, adding to the Basin Butte Pack’s problems. Two pack members were shot by hunters. One was the Basin Butte alpha male, and another was a pup. The little pup was shot by an employee of the rancher.

October arrived, the weather turned freezing cold, with rain and snow. The pack was accused of killing two more cows. The cows may have been sick or hurt, no one knows. With thousands of cattle, some are always on the decline but now the stage was set for an aerial massacre. You know the rest of this tragic story. Two wolves are said to have survived. They have been heard howling mournfully for their pack.

Basin Butte ”Uncle Wolf”

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There are 71 million wildlife watchers in the United States., who generate 45 billion dollars in revenue.. Wildlife viewers come to Idaho to watch wolves and other wildlife, not livestock. Slaughtering wolves is bad for Idaho’s reputation and hurtful to state tourism.

We don’t control what ranchers do on their private land BUT the American public has the right to demand fair PUBLIC LAND policy.. This land belongs to all our citizens, not just ranchers.

Americans do not want wildlife eradicated for the livestock industry. Ranchers must be held accountable for managing their livestock.

Like any business venture, ranching has risks. If ranchers aren’t willing or able to care for their investment, without using the federal government as their own wolf extermination service, they should get their cattle off our public lands. 66% of Idaho is public land. Wolves are native to the SNRA, not cattle. Why should the wolf pay the ultimate price because of sloppy ranching practices, or be subjugated to cattle?

Myself and my friends, are BOYCOTTING Idaho products, businesses, including big game outfitters until this wolf killing madness stops.

SPEAK UP AND PROTEST THE THANKSGIVING WEEK SLAUGHTER!

Idaho Wildlife Services has a long list of wolf packs in their sights, will the killing be repeated this winter with a green light from IDFG?

Please E-Mail Idaho Governor Butch Otter and the IDFG wolf managers:

http://gov.idaho.gov/WebRespond/contact_form.html

cal.groen@idfg.idaho.gov

jon.rachael@idfg.idaho.gov

jim.lukens@idfg.idaho.gov

jim.unsworth@idfg.idaho.gov

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STOP WOLF KILLING

Petition From change.org…Please sign.

http://www.change.org/actions/view/stop_wolf_killing

Photos: All Photos by Idaho WildWolf Images Copyright 2008.

Posted in: Idaho wolves, Wildlife Services War on Wildlife, aerial gunning of wolves, Wolf Wars

Tags: aerial gunning of wolves, wolves in the crossfire, wolf extermination, Stanley, Idaho, Basin Butte Pack, Wildlife Services

Wolf Hell! Judge Says Idaho Can Continue Wolf Slaying In Frank Church….

January 18, 2014

Idaho is wolf hell and the fires are burning hotter than ever for them now that a district judge has refused to stop the extermination of two wolf packs (Monumental and Golden) in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, after environmental groups filed a lawsuit to halt it. The wolf packs are bothering nobody, they live in a  2.4 million acre wilderness for god-sakes. BUT some elk hunters, who think Idaho is a giant game farm, want more elk to kill for themselves, hence the pressure on IDGF to eradicate even more wolves.  Who do these people think they are? Do they own Idaho’s wildlife? Apparently they do!!

And I highly doubt the Idaho hired gun or guns is just going after two wolf packs. Who in the heck really knows whats going on in that vast wilderness? They could be killing or have already killed wolves from other packs.

Judge Edward J. Lodge’s ruling allows the outrageous trapping and killing of wolves, by a state hired hunter/trapper, to continue. It’s bad enough Idaho allows a year round wolf hunt in some areas of the state or that Wildlife Services and poachers continue to kill them. Now wolves are being trapped and slaughtered in a protected wilderness.

“Hiring a bounty hunter to kill wolves in one of America’s crown-jewel wilderness areas, just to make sure there are more elk for hunters to kill, is one more example of the deeply sad, cruel and reactionary nature of Idaho’s ‘management’ of wolves,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center’s endangered species director. “This outrageous slaughter is a clear reminder of why all of our country’s wolves need the protection of the Endangered Species Act.”……Center For Biological Diversity

We can lay this debacle at the feet of the Obama administration and Congress. Mere months after Obama took office he and his rancher Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, delisted wolves in Montana and Idaho. Those wolves have been in the cross-hairs of brutal state management ever since and the bloodshed has spread to Wyoming and the Great Lakes.

The environmental groups plan to appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit but that could be a lengthy process, meanwhile wolves continue to suffer and die. The only solution to the savage wolf killing, that’s gripped the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, is to place gray wolves back on the Endangered Species List!

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Judge Lodge Issues Ruling Allowing Wolf Extermination in Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

By Ken Cole On January 17, 2014 · 54 Comments · In Idaho Wolves, Predator Control, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness/Roadless

U.S. District Judge for Idaho Edward J. Lodge has issued a ruling denying plaintiffs’ case against an ongoing plan to eradicate two wolf packs in Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The judge ruled that plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail based on the merits of the case because the US Forest Service’s decision to allow Idaho Department of Fish and Game to use the cabin and airstrip at Cabin Creek was not a final agency action that is reviewable. The US Forest Service claims that it is still evaluating the wolf eradication plan and that it has not taken a final agency action. The Judge also ruled that the removal of wolves in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness does not constitute irreparable harm because the actions don’t irreparably harm the species as a whole.

So far the trapper has killed 9 wolves.

Read more: http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/01/17/judge-lodge-issues-ruling-allowing-wolf-extermination-in-frank-church-river-of-no-return-wilderness/

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Definition of Wilderness (from the 1964 Wilderness Act)

(c) an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which(1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has  at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.

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Posted in: Wolf Wars

Photo: Wisconsin DNR

Tags: wolf wars, wolf trapping, wolf persecution, Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, WWP, Ralph Maughan, DOW, WWP, CBD, Wilderness Watch, Wilderness Act, Judge Lodge, Idaho, Idaho elk hunters pressure IDFG, 1964 Wilderness Act