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

Center For Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, May 24, 2016

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

Release, May 24, 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Posted in: gray wolf, Wolf Wars

Photo: Courtesy ODFW

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

Mexican Gray Wolves Offered Double Edged Sword…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Photo: Courtesy USFWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Information on the Tweetstorm on Tuesday, July 29, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be there for the wolves, For the wild ones,

Nabeki

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Photos:  Courtesy Protecting Endangered Species Facebook Page

Posted in: Action Alert, Biodiversity, Activism

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

USFWS Using Jedi Mind Tricks In Place Of Science

Confused you are?  Worried you are?

Is Yoda working for USFWS, have they hired him to play Jedi mind tricks on us? Don’t they know we’ve all seen Star Wars?

Does USFWS believe Yoda can hypnotize us? We’re not “weak-minded fools” falling for the BS they routinely dish out about wolves!

We’re on to you USFWS and your wolf hating friends in high places. You’d like nothing better than to see wolves gone from the lower 48 as you plan to remove the grizzly bear’s protections. C’mon, stop pretending your wolf delisting nonsense is based on science.  Isn’t your real goal a predator free landscape for Agribusiness?

Recently USFWS made a mockery of the so-called independent peer review of their national wolf delisting proposal.

August 2013

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that it will put on hold the scientific peer review of its proposal to remove protections for gray wolves across the country while it reviews its own actions leading to the disqualification of three scientists from the review panel.

Last week it was revealed that three scientists were excluded from the peer review because they signed a letter calling into question some of the science behind the proposal to delist the gray wolf. While the Service initially claimed that it had not asked for the three scientists to be removed, emails between the contractor supervising the peer review process and the scientists themselves confirmed that the Service had in fact done exactly that.”..….Center For Biological Diversity

Of course this fiasco was a bump in the road for USFWS in their inexorable march toward national wolf delisting They’ve now extended the public comment period from September 11 to October 28, 2013  AND scheduled  3 public hearings on the national wolf delisting .  I guess they believe it will placate us into thinking they actually care what we think.

The public hearing schedule.

• September 30, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., in Washington, DC.
• October 2, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., in Sacramento, California.
• October 4, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Albuquerque, New Mexico

What we must do is keep exposing their half-truths and manipulations. We must keep  pressure on them. The American people overwhelming support  wolves and want to keep them protected.

New Poll: Americans Love Wolves and Want Them to Stay Protected

“A new national poll shows that just one in three Americans support the Obama administration’s plan to drop Endangered Species protections for wolves across most of the U.S.

The poll’s findings demonstrate that a majority of voters understand and support what our leading wolf researchers are telling us — that wolves have not recovered and should be returned to hundreds of thousands of acres of prime but uninhabited wolf territory in places like California, the Northwest, southern Rockies and Northeast.

The poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe wolves are a “vital part of America’s wilderness and natural heritage,” and should be allowed to play their role in nature. Such views are supported by decades of research showing that wolves create a cascade of changes that benefit a wide range of species, including songbirds, fishes, foxes, pronghorn and many others.

With such strong support for wolves, particularly among Obama voters, it defies reason that the president is moving forward with stripping protections”……Huffington Post

Why is the USFWS and Obama administration pushing a national wolf delisting when the American people are clearly against it? The answer is crystal clear, the AG industry, ranchers and hunting groups have undue influence over wildlife policy.  Clearly USFWS is tone deaf when it comes to wolves and average Americans and only seem to listen to certain “stakeholders”, namely ones that represent cows and hunting.

Please comment by the deadline of  October 28, 2013. Don’t let them get away with stripping wolves of their ESA protections, leaving wolves at the total mercy of the states. We’ve all seen the result of  that in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming with Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan not far behind.  Thousands of wolves have been slaughtered since 2009 and  if Federal protections are removed the states won’t even be required to keep token populations of wolves.  It will be extermination, part 2 and they are well on their way toward that goal right now.

This is the wolf’s last stand in the lower 48, The dream of expanding the range of canis lupus will die in America and never raise it’s head again, if we don’t act.  I’m sorry to be so blunt. but this is where the rubber meets the road and if you’re not willing to get actively involved NOW,  then we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves.

As proof the USFWS  lacks sincerity concerning wolves, one only has to re-visit the 2009 delisting of gray wolves by the Obama administration. Prior to 2009, for more than a decade, the USFWS refused to accept Wyoming’s “wolf  management plan”, which included a “predator zone” where wolves could be killed on sight by any means, even poison,  anytime of the day or night,  encompassing over 80% of the state. (Sadly that is now a reality)  To get around this problem the USFWS delisted  only Montana and Idaho wolves in 2009, leaving Wyoming wolves protected. A lawsuit was filed by environmental groups challenging the delisting but the first wolf hunts since the 1940’s went forward. Over 500 wolves died in the Northern Rockies that year, due to hunting, poaching and Wildlife Service killings.  In August  2010 Judge Donald Molloy finally ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and wolves in the Northern Rockies were returned to the Endangered Species List, the wolf hunts cancelled. Judge Molloy was having none of USFWS attempt to cut Wyoming out of the equation,  so they could delist wolves in Montana and Idaho. He wrote:

“The northern Rocky Mountain DPS must be listed, or delisted, as a distinct  population and protected accordingly.”

Read his full decision here.

As you can see the USFWS has been trying to delist wolves for a very long time.  After Judge Molloy’s decision the USFWS changed their position on Wyoming’s “wolf plan” and accepted the egregious “predator zone” plan.  Apparently they will go to any lengths to see wolves stripped of their protections and given over to hostile state game agencies where wolves are already being decimated.

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COMMENT:

Removing the Gray Wolf from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Maintaining Protections for the Mexican Wolf by Listing It as Endangered

http://www.regulations.gov/#%21docketDetail;D=FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0073

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SIGN SIERRA CLUB PETITION TO STOP DELISTING

11th Hour for Wolves

signatures: 37,088

Target: Sally Jewell

• http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/295/325/022/

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FWS blasted for attempt to remove protections from gray wolves

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/357879#ixzz2eQSOrAc2

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Romeo Sweet Romeo – In Memory Of  The Thousands Of Fallen wolves

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Top Photo: Courtesy Huffington Post

Bottom Photo: Courtesy John Hyde

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Activism, Wolf Warriors

Tags: USFWS, Obama Administration, Stop national wolf delisting, take action, gray wolves, wolf persecution. Romeo

URGENT!! TAKE ACTION: Frenzy To Delist Wolves Across Lower Forty Eight Intensifies….

The BORG are coming for wolves. The Hive Collective is mobilizing its wolf hating troops to pressure the USFWS to delist wolves across the US. The take-over of America’s wolves is being led by the usual suspects: Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT), Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Sen. John Barasso (R-WY).  A letter sent to Dan Ashe, USFWS Director, on March 22, 2013, implored him to remove wolves from the Endangered Species List ACROSS THE LOWER 48. 72 members of Congress signed off on it, mainly House Republicans with a smattering of Senate Republicans and a few Democrats thrown in.

Wolves reside in just nine states: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and sometimes California (with OR7 drifting in and out) and have been harassed, tortured, brutalized and hunted in the last four years, since the Spring of 2009 when our newly elected President Obama and his rancher Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar,  stripped wolves in the Northern Rockies and now the Great Lakes of their Endangered Species Protections.

The reason for this increasingly brutal war against wolves is simple, they want wolf recovery stopped dead in its tracks, quite literally. They want wolves gone forever and are pulling out all the stops to get the job done.  It’s wolf extermination all over again!

Big Game Forever is working non-stop lobbying for this result.

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE  ORIGINAL LETTER AND SIGNATURES

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March 22, 2013

The Honorable Dan Ashe

Director

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

 

Dear Director Ashe:

 

We understand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is in the process of reviewing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery status of the gray wolf in the lower 48 States and is preparing to announce the delisting of the species. We support the nationwide delisting of wolves and urge you to move as quickly as possible on making this a reality. We were supportive of the USFWS decision in 2009 when most wolves were delisted in the Northern Rocky Mountains, again in 2011 when wolves in the Great Lake States were delisted, and the 2012 delisting in Wyoming.  It is unfortunate that these decisions were met with lawsuits from environmental activists.

 

Wolves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections.  The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations.

 

Unmanaged wolves are devastating to livestock and indigenous wildlife. Currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved. They need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA. During the four decades that wolves have had ESA protections, there has been an uncontrolled and unmanaged growth of wolf populations resulting in devastating impacts on hunting and ranching in America as well as tragic damages to historically strong and healthy herds of moose, elk, big horn sheep, and mule deer.

 

As you consider these much needed changes to federal protections with regard to the gray wolf, we urge you to expand the delisting of the species to all of the lower 48 states.  It is critical that the states be given the ability to properly manage all of the species within their boundaries.

Sincerely,

Sen. Signers

Orin Hatch (R-UT)
John Barasso (R-WY)
John Cornyn (R-TX)Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Mike Enzi (R-WY)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
James Risch (R-ID)
John Thune (R-ND)
David Vitter (R-LA)

House of Representative Signers:

Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
Doc Hastings  (R-WA)
Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Dan Benishek (R-MI)
Rob Bishop (R-UT)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)
Howard Coble (R-NC)
Tom Cole (R-OK)
Mike Conaway (R-TX)
Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
Steven Daines (R-MT)
Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
Stephen Fincher (R-TN)
Bob Gibbs (R-OH)
Sam Graves (R-MO)
Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Bill Johnson (R-OH)
Steve King (R-IA)
John Kline (R-MN)
Doug Lamalfa (R-CA)
Bob Latta (R-OH)
Blayne Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
Jim Matheson (D-UT
Patrick McHenry (R-NC),
Candice Miller (R-MI)
Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Mick Mulvaney (R-SC)
Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
Kristi Noem (R-SD)
Alan Nunnelee (R-MS)
Steve Palazzo (R-MS)
Collin Peterson (D-MN
Mike Pompeo (R-KS)
Jim Renacci (R-OH)
Reid Ribble (R-WI)
Dennis Ross (R-FL)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Steve Scalise (R-LA)
David Schweikert (R-AZ)
Austin Scott (R-GA)
Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Terri Sewell (D-AL)
Adrian Smith (R-NE)
Steve Southerland (R-FL)
Chris Stewart (R-UT)
Steve Stivers (R-OH)
Steve Stockman (R-TX)
Marlin Stutzman (R-TX)
Glenn Thompson (R-PA)
Tim Walz (D-MN)
Randy Weber (R-TX)
Lynn Westmoreland (GA)
Rob Wittman (R-VA)
Don Young (R-AK)

“Democrats are highlighted in red

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THE  DELISTING MUST BE STOPPED AT ALL COSTS!

This is where the rubber meets the road. Every wolf advocate who reads this blog, who follows Wolf Warriors and Howling For Justice, every animal rights blogger,  anyone and everyone who cares about wolves, please stand up now and be counted.  You must take action, this is happening very swiftly. Spread this post far and wide!!

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TAKE ACTION

From Center For Biological Diversity

Tell President Obama: Keep Wolves Protected

Wolves across the country need your help now. The Obama administration is poised to make a decision before the end of the year to lift Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across the United States, including the Pacific Northwest, southern Rocky Mountains, Northeast, and elsewhere — this could happen any day.

The Endangered Species Act has protected wolves in the lower 48 states since 1978. Recovery programs for wolves in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes have been a success, but the job of returning wolves to the American landscape is still far from complete.

In the past two years, federal protections for wolves have been removed in the northern Rocky Mountains and western Great Lakes, leaving management decisions to individual states. States in these regions have approved aggressive hunting and trapping seasons designed to drastically reduce recently recovered populations resulting in hundreds of wolves dying. State management programs are as gruesome as they are ineffectual.

CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER

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From WildEarth Guardians

Say “No” to More Wolf Killing Fields    

Dear Guardian,

In the next few months, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will propose to remove protections for gray wolves nationwide—even in places that are critical to their long-term survival, such as Colorado, California, New Mexico, and Utah.

Tell Congress that the Interior Department is dead wrong with their wolf policy. Tell them you want wolves! They need to remain fully protected because it will give the species a chance at recovery all across the American West—anything less is unacceptable.

If federal protections are removed, migrating wolves from Yellowstone to states like Colorado and California will face an arsenal of guns, poisons, and traps.

Departing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has promulgated the most regressive wolf policy in America since wolves’ restoration in the mid-1990s. Under Salazar the Interior Department has systematically removed federal protections wherever gray wolves exist, including the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes states.

Now Salazar wants to go one dangerous step further and remove protections for wolves in places where they’ve yet to be recovered, including Colorado, the most important biological link in WildEarth Guardians’ continental vision of having wolves living free from Canada to Mexico.

Let your Congressional representative know you don’t want to see further delisting of the gray wolf.

Except for a handful of brave, southern-migrating individuals, gray wolves have been absent from the Southern Rockies region since the 1940s. The Salazar proposal will remove the last hope of recovery and unleash the shotguns and sniper bullets on wolves all across the West.

We think Secretary Salazar’s proposal is illegal, unethical and out-of-touch.

Most citizens and westerners care about restoring wolves and understand the ecological benefits they create by their presence on the land.

Giving authority to states like Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico to manage wolves will be an unmitigated disaster. Just like Northern Rockies states, we know that state hunting agencies will wage jihad towards native carnivores, and their policies will be merciless to appease two user groups: the livestock industry and unethical sport-hunters.

It’s urgent that you call upon your Congressperson to stop this wolf-delisting shenanigan in the Southern Rockies and elsewhere across the West before it happens. Please write now.

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT CONGRESS

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DO NOT DELAY! POWERFUL FORCES ARE WORKING AGAINST WOLVES WHO WANT TO SEE THEM DESTROYED. THOUSANDS OF WOLVES HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE THEIR DELISTING IN 2009. DON’T ALLOW HUNTING AND RANCHING INTERESTS, OR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS,  WHO PUSH THEIR AGENDA, TO DESTROY THE REMAINING WOLVES LEFT IN THE US. NOW IS THE TIME TO STAND UP FOR WOLVES. NO MORE EXCUSES, NO MORE COMPLAINING. LETS’ GET BUSY!!!!

Contact your Senator or Representative directly and tell them you want wolves protected!  The persecution of these helpless animals must stop! The hysteria has reached critical mass!  Wolves are being exploited for political gain by those who seek to curry favor with ranching and hunting interests. Speak out for wolves,  we are their voice!

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US Capitol Switchboard Toll-free Numbers
1-866-220-0044
1-877-762-8762

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 Lawmakers want gray wolf off endangered list

By Megan R. Wilson – 03/25/13 12:00 PM ET

http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/energyenvironment/290125-lawmakers-want-gray-wolf-off-endangered-list#ixzz2OckwvE5k

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Hatch, fellow senators petition to end gray wolves’ protected status

By Ben Lockhart

March 25th, 2013 @ 8:31pm

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=24541452

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Lawmakers Push To Take Gray Wolf Off Endangered Species List

The Huffington Post  |  By Lucia Graves Posted: 03/25/2013 2:11 pm EDT  |  Updated: 03/25/2013 2:42 pm EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/lawmakers-gray-wolf-endangered-species-list_n_2949975.html

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Resistance Is Not Futile

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Photo: bwaferdotcom

Photo: Wiki Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: War against wolves, Dan Ashe, USFWS, Keep wolves listed, BORG, TAKE ACTION, Republicans War against wolves, stop the delisting

URGENT: Stop The Coyote Killing Contest – Which Also Threatens OR7…

UPDATE: January 6, 2013 @ 6pm

The California Fish and Game C0mmission refused to take any action to stop the Coyote Killing Contest that starts Saturday in Modec County.  Animal rights activists spoke out against the sadistic “contest” today in front of the game commission.

The commission gave testimony that OR7 is too far away from the “hunt” and implied he is not in any immediate danger.

Is the California Fish and Game Commission or California Department of Fish and Wildlife aware wolves can travel 25 to 50 miles per day, one wolf is on record traveling 100 miles while being pursued by hunters. The “contest” is several days away, making it very easy for OR7 to travel in that direction. OR7 has also been known to travel and play with coyotes.  Having a bunch of yahoo’s with guns and hounds out in an area, not too far away from OR7,  IS A CONCERN!!! AND aside from that coyotes are very important to the ecosystem.  A reference was made recently concerning the outbreak of Hantavirus in Yosemite National Park. Well who eats rodents, specifically mice, that can carry the deadly  Hantavirus? COYOTES!!

Predators are here for a reason. Mesopredators, like the coyote, help control disease by keeping the rodent population in check. Apex predators, like the wolf, keep ungulate herds healthy and exert a top down effect on ecosystems. Killing coyotes or any animals  for fun is WRONG!  It’s medieval and must be outlawed!

The only good thing to come out of the hearing was Commission president  Mike Sutton “asked staff to clarify the board’s authority to regulate the contests.”…..Tracie Cone, AP

Once again, when we ask officials  to stop the brutal hunting and torturing of animals, in this case killing as many coyotes as possible in three days to win a silver buckle, advocates get the proverbial finger!

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Calif. officials to research coyote hunting laws

By TRACIE CONE
Associated Press

Click HERE to read more

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UPDATE:  January 6, 2013

Listen to the California Fish and Game Commission Meeting

Watch Live

http://mfile.akamai.com/31949/live/reflector:54299.asx?

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Petitioning Director Charlton H. Bonham

CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife & F&G Commission: Stop Coyote Killing Contest

Petition By Project Coyote

Please join Project Coyote and partners in calling on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CADFW) and the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) to stop a coyote hunting contest planned for early February in Modoc County, California, and to conduct a top-to-bottom evaluation of the state’s approach to managing predators in California.

Specific details about the contest hunt:

What: “Coyote Drive 2013” Coyote Contest Hunt sponsored by the Pit River Rod and Gun Club along with Adin Supply Company
Where: Adin Supply Company, Adin, CA
When: Feb. 8-10, 2013    
More info.: http://www.adinsupply.com/coyote%20drive.htm

Killing coyotes or any wild animal as part of a ‘contest’ ‘tournament’ or ‘drive’ is ethically indefensible, ecologically reckless, and contravenes new legislation (AB 2402) that Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law requiring the Fish & Game Commission to use “ecosystem based management” and the best available science in the stewardship of California’s wildlife.

The contest hunt planned for Adin, CA also poses a significant threat to the recovery of gray wolves in California. This region is where OR-7 (aka “Journey” – the only federally protected gray wolf known to be in California) has been known to range and contest hunts like the one proposed are a threat to his safety and the safety of any other un-collared wolves who may roam the area.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please send the letter below to California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham and to the members of the California Fish and Game Commission and share this petition far and wide!

Click HERE To Take Action and Sign Petition

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California Department of Fish and Wildlife

CDFW Headquarters

   1416 9th Street, 12th Floor, Sacramento, CA 9581

(916) 445-0411 • Email the Director’s Office

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 Contact California Fish and Game Commission

Sonke Mastrup, Executive Director

Scott Barrow, Deputy Executive Director – Regulations and Policy

Adrianna Shea, Deputy Executive Director – External Affairs and Special Advisor to the Commissioners

Mailing Address:California Fish and Game Commission
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA 94244-2090

Physical Address: California Fish and Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1320
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone Number: (916) 653-4899

Fax Number: (916) 653-5040

General Comments, Questions, Requests for the Fish and Game Commission (fgc@fgc.ca.gov)

Messages to any and/or all Commissioners should be sent to fgc@fgc.ca.gov

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PLEASE SIGN the petition and CONTACT California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Fish and Game Commission.  It’s fairly obvious what this “disgusting contest” is up to,  they’re putting  OR-7 in grave danger besides killing innocent coyotes!

There isn’t much time, it starts on Feb 8.

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Groups trying to protect wolf oppose coyote hunt

By Tracie Cone, AP

02/01/2013

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22500263/groups-battle-over-coyote-hunt-wolf-territory

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Photo: Coyote Killing Contest Petition

Posted in: Animal Cruelty, Wolf Wars

Tags:  Take Action, Stop coyote killing contest, OR-7 at risk, legalized sadism,  leave innocent coyotes alone, CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife & F&G Commission,  Director Charlton H. Bonham, Canis Latrans

Stand Up For The Wolves, Who Will Speak For Them If We Don’t?

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WOLVES ARE DYING!!

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Video: Courtesy Animal Connection You Tube

Photo: Courtesy Thinkstock

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: Stand up for wolves, wolf scapegoating, wolf slaughter, wolf extermination, TAKE ACTION

TAKE ACTION: Keep The Fox Mountain Alpha Female Wild…

Mexican Gray Wolf Pups (Lobos of the Southwest)

UPDATE: August 14, 2012

As of today I’m hearing the alpha female of the Fox Mountain Pack is still free.  The concern is are they laying leg hold traps to catch her? This would be a dangerous situation for her  pups or other members of the pack. We don’t need any of the wolves sustaining leg injuries.  I sincerely hope this is not the case and that a solution is being devised to keep this important breeding female wild.  Please keep your phone calls and emails coming.

The following callous statement by “Officials” was reported in the Albuquerque Journal on August 13th, 2012.

‘Calls to Service spokesmen were not returned, but officials have said the wolf is of low genetic value to its species and constitutes a risk to cattle owners.”

That’s the mindset we’re dealing with, pathetic. How about this is a critically endangered wolf mother and CATTLE CONSTITUTE A THREAT TO HER SURVIVAL Get cows out of the wolf recovery area. Retire grazing leases!

Every Mexican gray wolf is important to the recovery of the species!

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We were all relieved to hear the kill order on the Fox Mountain alpha female had been rescinded but disturbed she would be separated from her pups and spend the rest of her life in captivity, never to see her family again.  This is not acceptable. Without this mother present, the Fox Mountain pack could disband leaving the pups orphaned or worse.  It’s not uncommon for this to happen when one of the alphas is lost, either by death or capture. It will put tremendous pressure on the alpha male to keep  his growing family fed.  Wolves are highly social animals so you can imagine how they will react to the loss of their matriarch.

Please keep the phone calls and emails coming. The important contacts  are listed below,  provided by WildEarth Guardians.

Tell them to keep this mother wild and remove the cows from the den site vicinity.  Grazing leases must be retired in the wolves recovery area  to give these animals a fighting chance.

Just a few short years ago wild Mexican gray wolf numbers dropped to dangerous levels due to poaching. Their numbers have climbed back up to an anemic fifty plus but still far below the recovery goal that was  promised by 2006. Here we are six years later still fighting the same forces that want to  stop Mexican gray wolf recovery dead in its tracks. If the pack disbands, the loss will be immeasurable. These wolves are the most endangered animal in North America. Removing a successful breeding female from the wild, over a few cows, is egregious.

FROM WILDEARTH GUARDIANS

Please call the White House, New Mexico Senators Udall and Bingaman, and New Mexico Congressional Representatives Luján and Heinrich now to keep the Fox Mountain mother wolf in the wild, and demand that cattle be restricted from the pack’s den area.

White House (202) 456-1111

Senator Tom Udall (202) 224-6621, (505) 988-6511 or (505) 346-6791

Senator Jeff Bingaman (202) 224-5521 or 1-800-443-8658

Congressman Ben Ray Luján (505) 984-8950 or (202) 225-6190

Congressman Martin Heinrich (505) 346-6781 or (202) 225-6316

Please politely tell them:

• The Fox Mountain pups need their mother and to be left unmolested in the wild of the Apache National Forest. Like any youngster who loses their mother, those pups will suffer, and the mother will suffer in captivity. Removing members from a pack causes trauma for all the pack’s members, and can even cause packs to disband, studies show.

• Fewer than 60 Mexican wolves roam the wild, and the Fox Mountain pack contains one of only six breeding pairs identified. Removing this wolf is biologically harmful and a huge waste of taxpayer money.

• The livestock owner has been compensated for his losses.

• Livestock owners within the territory of the Fox Mountain pack should immediately either temporarily remove all livestock from the vicinity of the pups’ den, or use electric fencing or herders to manage cattle by day, and barns and corrals to secure the animals at night.

http://wg.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=9201.0

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Let’s work to keep this wolf mother wild to raise her puppies, lead her family and continue to  contribute to the important recovery of Mexican gray wolves!!

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This video was taken  in the late seventies. It’s believed to be one of the last wild Mexican gray wolves “captured from northern Mexico before the species went extinct in the wild.”  Click here to read more.

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Photo: Courtesy Lobos of the Southwest

Video: You Tube Courtesy  ricklobello 

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Mexican Gray Wolf

Tags: Mexican gray wolf alpha female, Fox Mountain Pack, New Mexico, USFWS, retire grazing leases,  keep her wild, take action

RED ALERT: From The Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)

I’m re-posting the NIWA ALERT because Howling For Justice is part of the newly formed coalition between pro-wolf groups to prevent any meddling or weakening of the ESA.   

Gray wolves are still in danger of losing their ESA protections. This is a grave threat, not only for wolves but for any species protected under the ESA.

We must remain vigilant until this Congress convenes. Then it will start all over again in January with the new Congress, unfortunately.

NIWA website: http://www.niwa.us/

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RED ALERT: From The Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance

A few days ago, Interior Salazar Secretary assured 3 western governors that the Obama administration would help get the bills passed in the next two weeks.

This bill would circumvent the Endangered Species Act (ESA), & remove wolves from it’s protection.It would set a dangerous precedent, by, for the first time, removing an animal from the ESL for political, not scientific reasons. No animal that hunters, ranchers and anti-wildlife forces dislike would ever be safe again.The immediate consequences would be wolf-hunting seasons in Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming, as well as wolf exterminations by the US Wildlife Service.

Almost half of the wolves recently brought back from extinction would be killed, thus reducing them to a remnant, token population, unable to fulfill their biological role in our forests and subjecting them to their possible second extinction. 

We are asking you to take 3 actions:

1. Contact pro-environmental Congressmen on the House Committee on Natural Resources, listed below, and ask them to oppose this legislation.

2. Forward it to people who care about wolves.

3. Network with local pro-wildlife organizations & ask them to get on board in this effort (big ones like Defenders of Wildlife, NRDC, etc are already working on it)

Here are important talking points:

• Rather than decimating livestock, wolves are responsible for less than 1% of depredation.

• Rather than reducing elk populations, elk numbers have increased since wolf re-introduction to over one million in the Northern Rockies.

• Scientific studies show that wolves have positive effects on forest health.

• This bill would set a dangerous precedent, subjecting other species in the future to political rather than scientific scrutiny to delist them.Thank you for your efforts. Together, we can successfully defend the wolves.

Nancy Taylor, Co-Chair

Ann Sydow, Co-Chair & Newsletter Editor

Ken Fischman, Vice-Chair

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You can:

(1) Call,

(2) FAX, or

(3) click on the Representatives’ email

Committee on Natural Resources:

Rahall, Nick – (D – WV), Chair
(304) 522 6425 Huntington office
(304) 529 5716 fax
eMail –http://www.rahall.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&sectiontree=91

Hinchey, Maurice – (D – NY)
(845) 331 4466 Kingston office
(202) 226 0774 fax

DeFazio, Peter – (D – OR)
(541) 465 6732 Eugene office
(541) 465 6458 fax
eMail – https://forms.house.gov/defazio/IMA/contact.html

Grijalva, Raul M. – (D – AZ)
(520) 622 6788 Tucson office
(520) 622 0198 fax
eMail – http://grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&sectiontree=2%2C49

Miller, George – (D- CA)
(925) 602 1880 Concord office
(925) 674 0983 fax
eMail – https://georgemiller.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml

Committee on Natural Resources, Sub-Committee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife

Bordallo, Madeleine Z. (D – Guam), Chair
(202) 225 1188 Washington, D.C. office
(202) 226 0341 fax
eMail – http://www.house.gov/bordallo/contact.shtml

 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Action Alerts

Tags: NIWA, Assault on the ESA, gray wolf, take action