Governor Bullock, Don’t Buy Into The Wolf Hysteria, VETO HB 73!!

“A typical wolf about to take your children and eat your job”..Rational Wiki

UPDATE: February 7, 2013

Well today the rubber met the road in the Montana Senate.  HB 73 was rammed through and is on its way to Governor Bullock’s desk for signing.

The Governor heard NO, NO, NO  from people all over the country and the world, concerning the wolf hating legislation.  But apparently that wasn’t enough to change his mind. It looks like he’s going to sign it and if he does we’ll know there has been little change in Helena.  Montanans, who voted for Governor Bullock, believing he wouldn’t  jump on the wolf persecution train, will be proved dead wrong.  The same-old same-old wolf hysteria,  that has nothing what-so-ever to do with science or reality,  is still permeating the Montana Capital.

“Gov. Steve Bullock on Thursday indicated support for the legislation, noting it had been backed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.”

“The department did support it, and at the end of the day we need to base these decisions on science, not on politics, and allowing more than one, three wolves to be taken, it fits in with the science,” he said.

What science is he talking about? There are 2.5 million cows in Montana and wolves were responsible for just 74 losses last year.  Montana elk numbers grew 66% from 1984 to 2009 while wolves were on the landscape 14 of those years. Wolves who dispersed back into Northwestern Montana in the early eighties, have been around for over 30 years.

In case the Governor isn’t aware there are wolf and wildlife advocates in Montana who enjoy viewing wildlife ALIVE.  Millions of tourists visit Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks in hopes of  catching a glimpse of a wild wolf.

Wolf viewing generates over 35 million dollars a year in the  GYA (Great Yellowstone Area).  It makes no sense to slaughter hundreds of wolves because a small, vocal,  wolf hating minority demands it. But how do you fight a  state legislature who’s  ready and willing to persecute wolves on behalf of that minority? Do wolves have even one friend in either the Montana House or Senate?  Hunters and ranchers don’t own Montana but they sure own the politicians.

I think what the Governor really meant to say is we need to base these decisions on politics, not science!

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Legislature gives quick OK to expanded Montana wolf hunt

HELENA – A proposal to expand the state’s wolf hunt is being fast-tracked through the Legislature and shortly will be sent to the governor’s desk for his signature.

The Montana Senate on Thursday suspended its rules so it could take initial and final votes on the same day on the measure that already had overwhelmingly cleared the House. The Senate backed it 45-4.

House Bill 73 lets the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks increase the number of wolves one hunter can take, allows for electronic calls, and removes a requirement to wear hunter orange outside general deer and elk season.

The measure also prohibits the state wildlife agency from banning wolf hunts in areas around national parks. Its swift passage would allow the changes to take effect during the hunting season that’s currently under way.

The department last month abandoned efforts to shut down gray wolf hunting and trapping in an area north of Yellowstone National Park, a move originally promoted by concerns that too many wolves wandering out of the park were dying.

Lawmakers wanted to make sure such a regional closure doesn’t come up again.

Gov. Steve Bullock on Thursday indicated support for the legislation, noting it had been backed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

“The department did support it, and at the end of the day we need to base these decisions on science, not on politics, and allowing more than one, three wolves to be taken, it fits in with the science,” he said.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks said it already has prepared rule changes that will allow the legislation to immediately impact what remains of the wolf hunting season ending Feb. 28.

Hunters and trappers so far this season have killed fewer than 200 wolves. Wildlife officials are hoping to reduce the animals’ population from an estimated 650 wolves to around 450. The goal is to reduce wolf attacks on livestock and help some elk herds that have been in decline due to wolf attacks. ( That sentence would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious for wolves)

Wildlife advocates have argued that the state is being too aggressive against a species only recently restored to the Northern Rockies after it was widely exterminated last century.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

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“Wolf hysteria (also known as wolf persecution, or rarely, lupophobia) is the widespread public hatred of wolves, incorporating both their enduring role as folk devils, and societal attitudes favouring policies of active persecution of wolves, and opposition and resistance to policies aiming to protect existing wild populations, or reintroduce the species into former ranges where it has become extinct relatively recently. The phenomenon shares much in common with moral panics, including the use of scaremongering, unverifiable anecdotes, demonisation, exaggeration, moral highroading etc”….Rational Wiki

Yellowstone Lamar Canyon Alpha Female (06 Female) Killed For Nothing by Hunter, 15 miles outside the park

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Contact Governor Bullock and ask him to veto HB 73

Governor Steve Bullock 

406-444-3111

governor@mt.gov

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Top Photo:  Rational Wiki

Bottom Photo: Courtesy Earth Island Journal

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana wolves

Tags: MT. war on wolves, HB 73, K. Flynn, T. Washburn, Montana FWP, Montana Governor Bullock, Montana  Senate

TAKE ACTION: Contact Montana Governor Bullock Concerning Wolf Killing House Bill 73

January 29, 2013

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.
— Mahatma Ghandi

We have doomed the wolf not for what it is but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be: the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer — which is, in reality, not more than the reflected image of ourselves. We have made it the scapewolf for our own sins.
— Farley Mowat, from the preface of the 1993 edition of his book, Never Cry Wolf

Montana is a big and beautiful state in the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States. But… during the past two years this big and beautiful state has allowed a small number of its citizens, and others from outside the state, to persecute and kill over 300 innocent and ecologically vital wolves that lived within the state. In 2011, Montana’s own Division of Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimated the total wolf population there to be about 550 wolves.

When will the persecution and killing of these vital, innocent and beautiful wolves end? When will the humane American majority, including the many voices of humane, respectful and wildlife-loving Montanans, be heard above the brutal and heartless voices of cattlemen, animal abusers and sport killers?

There is a glimmer of hope, of positive change for wolves in Montana, and for all of us who respect and admire wolves and want them protected. Montana has a new Governor, Steve Bullock, who campaigned with reason and decency. He did not pander to the wolf haters and kept an open door to the many wolf defenders who met him.

Now, Governor Bullock quickly has the opportunity to demonstrate that he is indeed a man and a leader who respects ecology, healthy ecosystems and the importance of natural predators, including wolves.

The Montana House of Representatives just passed House Bill 73, that is intended to accelerate the torture and massacre of the remaining wolves in Montana. This wicked legislation would allow each sport killer to kill more wolves, reduce the cost of out of state licenses to kill wolves, allow sport killers to use electronic calls of wolf pups in distress, allow killing of wolves on the perimeter of Yellowstone National Park with no buffer zone and on and on.

The facts speak for themselves:
There are approximately 2,500,000 cattle in Montana. In 2011, just 74 cattle were confirmed to be taken by wolves. 74 out of 2,500,000. That tiny tiny number is statistically zero. But, pathetic cattlemen continue to spread hysterical lies about wolves killing their  non-native cattle in numbers too numerous to count. These same cattlemen rely on the ignorance and apathy of the general public and the media, so they can continue their demonetization and slaughter of America’s native wolves and coyotes and mountain lions and bison and wild horses and prairie dogs and anything else that moves.

As for elk, the principle prey of wolves in the Rockies, Montana had 90,000 elk before wolves returned to their native homeland in Montana. Today with wolves back on the land, the state of Montana estimates the current elk population at 140,000. More wolves equals  more elk and the elk are much healthier now that wolves are keeping them on their toes, just as nature intended.

Wolves are vital, innocent, highly social, intelligent and family-oriented beings. It is humans that are the mass killers of wolves and every other animal they can shoot, trap, poison and destroy. It is ignorant and violent humans who must be managed and restrained, and who must finally learn to live on this Earth respectfully and with compassion for non-human beings who have as much right as humans to live and prosper across the planet we share.
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This week’s WOLF DEFENDER ACTION is to contact Montana’s new Governor, Steve Bullock. Please be respectful and polite. Gov. Bullock is brand new to his position and has taken no action to hurt wolves.

Ask Governor Bullock to put an end to the persecution and massacre of wolves in Montana. Ask him to veto Montana House Bill 73. Ask the governor to be the first governor in the Rocky Mountains to show compassion, decency and respect for living wolves, in Montana and throughout the Rockies. Ask Gov. Bullock to acknowledge the indispensable and positive role, wolves and every other natural predator performs in every healthy ecosystem. Ask him to protect America’s wolves.

Here are three ways to contact Governor Steve Bullock:
(Please be polite and respectful and consider doing all three. I was told he reads letters that are mailed to him directly.) 

1. By Phone: 1-406-444-3111
2. By EMail:   governor@mt.gov
3. By US Mail:
Governor Steve Bullock 
Office of the Governor 
PO Box 200801 
Helena, Montana 59620

Thank you, for Montana’s and America’s ecologically vital and beautiful wolves,

Robert Goldman
Protect America’s Wolves!
http://signon.org/sign/protect-americas-wolves

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Montana Seeks More Aggressive Wolf Hunting

January 29, 2013

Even as Wyoming’s wolf management policies are under fire in the courts again, a bill that would prevent the closure of wolf hunt areas near Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks before the quota is reached, allow multiple wolf licenses and generally expand wolf hunting in Montana has been unanimously approved in the Montana House of Representatives and now moves on to the Montana Senate for consideration there.  The bill would allow hunters to purchase more than one wolf tag and use electronic calls to lure the animals. It also reduces the price of a nonresident wolf license from $350 to $50.

http://jacksonholeradio.com/?p=12486

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HOUSE BILL NO. 73

INTRODUCED BY K. FLYNN, T. WASHBURN

BY REQUEST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH, WILDLIFE, AND PARKS

Click HERE To READ

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Photo: Flickr Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana wolves

Tags: MT. war on wolves, HB 73, K. Flynn, T. Washburn, Montana FWP, Montana Governor Bullock

The Truth About Wolves, A Presentation By Jay Mallonee, May 15, Kalispell, Montana

Apparent Increase In Montana’s Wolf Population Is Based On Fabricated Numbers

By Jay Mallonee

Synopsis: Populations of living organisms change over time. To understand how, scientists measure four basic components expressed by populations: births (b), deaths (d), immigration (i, join a population), and emigration (e, leave a population). The overall equation is: growth rate = (i – e) + (b – d).

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) is responsible for wolf management, including public hunts, and oversees how the wolf population changes from year to year. They claim that their methods are based in science, but one official has stated that no scientific protocols have been used to collect their data. This shows in FWP’s annual reports in which data are collected in a haphazard manner, making it difficult to draw relevant conclusions about Montana’s wolf population. Immigration numbers are never measured, yet are assumed in the annual reports and used to calculate the minimum number of wolves each year, or year-end totals. Over the last nine years, including 24 unverified wolves that supposedly emigrated, this represents 762 unaccounted for wolves: an average 21.4 percent error in minimum population numbers each year. Intentional or not, at least immigration numbers are fabricated and mean nothing scientifically. Minimum population numbers, therefore, are annual claims made by FWP, because they cannot be verified. This is important because these year-end numbers are used to make management decisions about wolves. For example, FWP has stated in their annual report that the number of wolves in 2011 is a 15 percent increase from 2010. However, this increase is well within the error established in FWP’s numbers. In addition, a wildlife official stated that none of the wolf counts were complete. Therefore, FWP cannot know if an increase occurred because their database is so inaccurate. When the unverified wolf counts are removed from the year-end totals, the result is a difference of 25 wolves between 2010 and 2011. According to FWP numbers, it would take 98 wolves to achieve 15 percent of the 2011 year-end total. Therefore, the claimed 15 percent increase came from the unverified immigration numbers. Regardless, FWP has used this assertion to justify an increased quota for the 2012 hunt. More importantly, the pattern of fabricated data represented in the 2011 annual report is consistent with previous years.

The data collected by FWP is so incomplete and without basis in science that we could ask, “What numbers do they provide the federal government to determine if wolves should be on the endangered species list or not?

Read More: 

http://www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com/blog2011report.php

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Pamphlet: Courtesy Jay Mallonee

Posted in: Biodiversity, Montana wolves, Wolf Wars

Tags: Jay Mallonee, Kalispell Montana, The Truth About Wolves, Montana wolf numbers? , Montana FWP

URGENT: Calling All Montanans!! Show Your Support For Wolves TODAY, May 10th, Montana FWP Helena Meeting….

STOP THE TRAPPING OF OUR WOLVES AND OTHER WILDLIFE BY VOICING YOUR OPINION ON MAY 10TH  IN HELENA, MONTANA.

May 10, 2012

COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA

FWP Wild Center –

2668 Broadwater – Helena, MT

Times May Vary As Much As One Hour – Earlier or Later

Officially starts @ 9:45am but times vary so be there early.

09:45 AM ~ ~ Wildlife Bureau   

…Ken McDonald, Bureau Chief

§ Master List of Changes     View Cover Sheet 

       § 2012 / 2013 Wolf Seasons, Quotas and HD Boundaries – Proposed     View Cover Sheet 
       § Wolf Proposals – Statewide     View Cover Sheet 

 

GOOGLE MAP IT

By Jerry Black

Trying to keep a job, cost of living on the rise, educating and menoring kids, feeding a family, with commitments like these, you wonder what kind of  “slime ball” spends time and money  setting traplines  for the thrill of slowly killing and tearing the skins off animals.  Studies have linked cruelty to other species as a precursor to violence against humans. Must we accept the risk that a trapper is raising kids who will grow up to be a danger to our families? Exposing children to animal cruelty as a “sport” and a means to have “fun”, can have a profound effect on their psyche and childhood.  It defies common sense.

Below is a quote from one of the “creeps” I’m speaking about.

““We trappers do cause pain and suffering to animals and apologize to no one. “Dennis “Foothold” Schutz, Vice-President West of the Montana Trappers Association (MTA)

This statement was made by Schutz two years ago in a letter to the Missoulian newspaper.  He openly admits the brutality associated with trapping.

How can Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks even contemplate legalizing this immoral, insane method of killing our wolves? What would you think if a neighbor child did something as cruel as trapping or snaring a dog or cat?

If you want to speak out about this madness and demand  MFWP use “best available science” to manage wolves, attend the May 10th hearing.  Let the Commissioners know that wolves and all wildlife in Montana belong to EVERYONE, not just hunters and ranchers.

Visit Footloose Montana for more information and “talking points”.

http://www.footloosemontana.org/trapping-season-2011-12/alerts/

                                                                

Proposed new rules for Montana FWP wolf hunt 2012/2013.

http://fwp.mt.gov/doingBusiness/insideFwp/commission/meetings/agenda.html?si&coversheet&itemId=26404906

STOP KILLING OUR WOLVES!

Top Photo: Courtesy All Creatures

Bottom Photo: Facebook

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana wolves, gray wolf, Evils of trapping and snaring

Tags: trapping is torture, politics trumps science, Montana FWP,  Montana wolf hunt proposals 2012/2013, Helena Montana

Montana FWP Couldn’t Lay Off Wolves For One Day…..

Just when were trying to thank Montana FWP and the Commissioners for the doing the right thing by not extending the wolf hunt, the Director of Montana FWP,  Joe Maurier,  comes out with this little gem.

Montana FWP looking at other ways to manage wolves

Posted: Feb 16, 2012 8:23 PM by Marnee Banks (KXLH-Helena)
Updated: Feb 16, 2012 9:31 PM

On Thursday, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioners voted unanimously to stop the wolf hunt in the Bitterroot despite low harvest numbers.

The Commission hoped hunters would harvest 18 wolves in the Bitterroot but only 6 were killed.

Director Joe Maurier says residents need to remember the majority of the problems caused in the area are due to mountain lions.

However, he says he is fully prepared to take a plan to the next legislature which addresses the problem wolves in the area.

“Within the first two weeks of the Legislature, we get this wolf package passed which would allow some electronic calling, more than one wolf to be taken, so more than one license to be purchased, and allowing all of those sorts of tools to be used.”

He says the agency is completing a comprehensive study on wolves and those results will help dictate the next management steps.”

Read More: http://www.kpax.com/news/montana-fwp-looking-at-other-ways-to-manage-wolves/

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So it looks like FWP is going to run to the Montana State Legislature to get what they want.

Does any of this sound familiar? Judge Molloy relisted wolves in August 2010 after the Obama administration delisted them in 2009. The anti-wolf crowd went nuts. Oh no, they weren’t going to let the judicial system get in their way.  Senator Tester D-MT came to the rescue. He inserted a wolf delisting rider into the US  Senate budget bill last year  to try to save his  Senate seat by boosting his anti-wolf credentials, hoping to “out wolf” his  opponent Rep. Denny Rehberg R-MT.  Senate Democrats went along with the scheme and wolves were delisted via budget rider without judicial review, throwing Montana and Idaho wolves under the bus. A dangerous precedent was set. Any endangered species, who is labeled “inconvenient” to special interests, can be  delisted by Congress, without pesky scientific fact getting in the way. Never mind that wolves have done nothing wrong. Never mind they are NOT a threat to the cattle industries’ bottom line or have little to do with prey fluctuations. All three wolf states have healthy elk numbers, totaling almost 400,000 elk.

Politicians aren’t  scientists, they have no business meddling in the management of wildlife but I guess with wolves anything goes.

This is very bad news for Montana’s wolves and now more than ever we need the Ninth Circuit to overturn Judge Molloy’s decision and declare the wolf delisting rider unconstitutional and get wolves back under federal protection before the states decimate the wolf population and continue to torture them with cruel killing methods.

I’m frankly sick of this continual assault on wolves. They say environmentalists pushed too hard with legislation to keep wolves protected. This is why. The “wolf managers” can’t keep beating up on this species and not come out looking like bullies who are exacting retribution on wolves just for existing.  They are playing to the wolf hating crowd and it’s making them look small and petty just like the people they are trying so desperately to please. Enough, go pick on something that can fight back!!!

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana Wolves

Tags: Montana FWP, wolf persecution, retribution

The Montana Wolf Hunt Is OVER!! Extension voted down!!

I am very happy for the wolves in the Bitterroot and thank you Montana FWP for not extending the hunt, especially Commissioners Ron Moody and Bob Ream, who spoke out against hunting wolves during breeding and denning season, it took courage to do that.

The vote was unanimous.

Montana Wolf Hunt Season Not Extended

LEWIS AND CLARK COUNTY

By The Associated Press

POSTED: 10:38 am MST February 16, 2012

HELENA, Mont. — Montana’s Fish Wildlife and Parks Commission has voted unanimously to not extend Montana’s wolf hunt.Members were considering extending the hunt in areas where hunters had not met the hunt quota.

http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/30474637/detail.html

Photo: Public Domain

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana hunt

Tags: Montana FWP, Extension voted down, Ron Moody, Bob Ream, Montana wolf hunt OVER, 165 wolves dead

Montana Wolf Hunt Over, Maybe….

The Montana wolf hunt ended today after midnight but it may not be over yet.

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

Montana FWP is considering extending the hunt in the Bitterroot until April 1, 2012, when pregnant alphas have returned to their den sites  awaiting the birth of their pups. They are virtually tied to their dens and it would be like shooting fish in a barrel for any wolf hunter. To their credit Montana FWP commissioners Ron Moody and Bob Ream have spoken out against the extension.

From the Missoulian

“Fair chase hunting is not infinitely elastic,” Moody said. “It has limits and I think we are at those limits, and what I really think is we have gone past them.

“… It does matter and it is important: what you do when you call yourself an ethical hunter and when you do it. It can result in the diminishing stature of hunters in the public’s mind.”

Moody and Commissioner Bob Ream, who also voted against extending the wolf hunting season until April 1 or when the area’s quota of 18 gray wolves is met, voiced concerns about killing the animals during their reproductive season.

So far, only four wolves have been killed by hunters in the area along the Idaho border.

Ream and Moody, along with some members of the public who spoke at the meeting, also questioned whether removing 18 wolves from the Bitterroot would help the faltering elk population, since an ongoing study is showing that more elk calves there are being killed by mountain lions and bears than by wolves.

“If we are concerned about the elk populations in (the Bitterroot), we are shooting at the wrong target,” Ream said.

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FWP Commission gives initial OK to extended Bitterroot wolf hunt

http://missoulian.com/news/local/fwp-commission-gives-initial-ok-to-extended-bitterroot-wolf-hunt/article_12b20672-42e8-11e1-9285-0019bb2963f4.html

The final vote on extending the wolf hunt season in the Bitteroot is expected today.

I will continue the memorial for wolves killed in the brutal hunts. The death toll stands at 464 in the combined hunts. Montana 166 dead wolves, Idaho 227 wolves shot, 71 wolves trapped or snared to death.

Why do they have to die?

467

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Photo:  Trapped wolf FB

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Montana wolves, Idaho wolves

Tags: Wolf Wars, Idaho wolf hunt, Montana wolf hunt, wolf persecution, snaring and trapping wolves, Montana FWP, IDFG

URGENT!! Comment To Stop Buffalo Slaughter, Comment Period Ends Today, February 13, 2012

From the Buffalo Field Campaign

Comment to Stop Montana’s New Buffalo Firing Line!

Click Here To Comment

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Bison, Animal Cruelty, Action Alerts

Tags: Yellowstone Bison, Buffalo Field Campaign, Bison Slaughter, Montana FWP, Bison under fire

Jay Mallonee Speaks Out….

Jay Mallonee is an independent wolf biologist who has studied wolves in Montana for twenty years, notably the The Fish Trap Pack for ten of those years. His peer-reviewed paper,“Hunting Wolves In Montana, Where Are The Data”  is posted on this blog, under PAGES.

In his own words Jay speaks out about his struggle for the truth.

“On September 3, 2011, I published the paper Hunting Wolves In Montana – Where Are The Data?  in the peer-review, scientific journal Nature and Science.  It reviewed the data collected by Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) regarding wolf population numbers.  This is the state agency responsible for wolf management in Montana. The paper demonstrated that much of their data was flawed or blatantly wrong, in addition to fabricating wolf numbers.  After publication of the paper, I spent two months emailing and visiting FWP officials to understand how and why they used flawed information to decide how many wolves should die in public hunts.  I also asked about the procedures used to collect their data, because FWP has claimed that wolf hunts are based in science.  This is not true either, and I have yet to have my questions answered.  Nevertheless, my email exchanges with FWP and the Governor’s Office demonstrate how management officials fein cooperation, then evade answering questions directly, and finally just get mad and no longer communicate.  In the meantime, the hunting season has been extended to February 15, 2012, and FWP supports groups that offer cash prizes for the best photo of wolves killed in the hunt.  FWP has gone out of their way to make sure wolves die.

You can help by going to my website

(http://www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com/downloads/emailexchanges.pdf)

and reading these email exchanges then contacting FWP directly.  I have provided the contact information for everyone involved in these emails.  Ask your own questions or demand answers to the ones I have asked.  These people are pubic servants.”

Make them prove what they say.

Jay Mallonee, January 2, 2012

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Hunting Montana’s Wolves

by Jay Mallonee

http://www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com/downloads/huntingwolves2012.pdf

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Photo: Courtesy kewl wallpapers

Posted in: Wolf Wars, gray wolf

Tags: Jay S. Mallonee, Wolf biologist, Montana FWP,  Hunting Wolves In Montana

War On Wolves Escalates….

Here we go again. Idaho is bringing out the big guns in the Lolo zone.  Helicopter gunners, Alaska trappers, will be targeting the hapless Lolo wolves.  If this isn’t a wolf pogrom I have no idea what else to call it. The Lolo elk numbers were down long before wolves were reintroduced.  Idaho fish and game is upset because only six wolves have been killed in the Lolo so far, they want 50 or 60 DEAD. Are there even that many wolves in the Lolo?

Are elk and elk numbers just a smokescreen to kill  more wolves?  Idaho hasn’t been secretive about their plans for wolves.  They’ve been itching to kill lots of wolves or most of the wolves in the state and Congress has given them the chance to do just that.  Bad idea Congress, very bad idea. We’re getting a taste of state “wolf management” and it’s not pretty.

From the Republic:

“Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, called the extra wolf control measures frustrating and above and beyond the careful management state officials promised before delisting of the animals.

“The states were talking about measured actions and it turns out as soon as federal protection were lifted they are using every possible means they can to kill as many wolves as they can and there is nothing measured or rational about this,” Suckling said.”

Montana FWP  has been busy too.  They proposed extending the December 31, 2011 wolf hunt deadline to January 31, 2012 and for good measure came up with the brilliant idea to allow hunters to kill wolves for livestock depredations instead of Wildlife Services. They asked for comments.  So advocates obliged and told them to stop moving the goal posts, end the hunt when you said you would. Don’t stress wolves out anymore then they already are by chasing them around during breeding season, which begins in February.  And no private hunters killing wolves for depredations.  Looks like an end-run around Wildlife Services budget cuts??

Apparently all the comments against extending the hunts were ignored and for good measure Montana FWP tacked on two more weeks to the hunt, stretching it to February 15, 2012, right into wolf breeding season. FWP is going to meet up again in January, I guess to discuss if they’ve killed enough wolves or maybe they’ll have to “go all Idaho on us” and extend the hunt through June 2012, as the Gem State has done in the Lolo and Selway zones.  Oh and they pushed through the hunter proposal, so now selected Montana hunters get to have little mini-wolf hunts all year round.

So hey, thanks Congress for ramming the wolf budget rider through and allowing  hell to be unleashed on wolves.  And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank you as well for weakening the Endangered Species Act. Great job there too. NOT!!!  You betrayed the ESA and you betrayed America’s wolves, causing untold suffering to these maligned and persecuted animals.  Shame!!

When is anyone in the broadcast media (not counting the Northern Rockies skewed reporting) going to cover this slaughter?? CNN, ABC, NBC? Anyone? Anyone?

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Idaho game officials plan to mount air, ground attacks on wolves

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/12/idaho_game_officials_plan_to_m.html

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MT FWP extends wolf hunt to February 15

Posted: Dec 8, 2011 4:59 PM by Marnee Banks (Helena)

http://www.krtv.com/news/mt-fwp-extends-wolf-hunt-to-february-15/

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Contact 

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar

202-208-7351

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Photo: Courtesy Ann S. (Wolf People Pup Nini)

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: aerial gunning, Alaska trappers, Lolo wolves targeted, wolf pogrom, wolf slaughter, Congress, IDFG, Montana FWP, extending wolf hunt