ESA protection lifted, wolf killing accelerates
The Editors say: Wolves have been betrayed by the Obama administration and the courts. How many times can a depraved humanity bring an species to the absolute brink of extinction, only to rescue it and then put it again in mortal jeopardy? And for what? To placate bloated ranching interests in reactionary states?
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011—
BY Merritt Clifton
Their lot has been endless victimization.
WASHINGTON D.C.–“Interior Announces Next Steps in Protection, Recovery, and Scientific Management of Wolves,” Kendra Barkoff of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Chris Tollefson of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service headlined a May 17, 2011 joint press release.
What “protection, recovery, and scientific management” meant was that wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, western Great Lakes region, and Oregon may now be shot, trapped, poisoned, and strafed from aircraft as state governments see fit, so long as they do not actually reduce wolf populations to the verge of regional extinction.
Wolves in most of the Lower 48 states where they exist were removed from Endangered Species Act protection by Congress through an April 14, 2011 budget rider. The rider was challenged as unconstitutional on May 5 by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, and WildEarth Guardians, and was subsequently challenged in a separate filing by the Center for Biological Diversity. The cases were judicially consolidated. Friends of Animals then filed a Motion to Intervene on May 27.
Expecting the case to fail, the Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks Department tentatively approved a plan to allow hunters to kill as many as 220 wolves in fall 2011, about 40% of the present estimated state wolf population of 566. “It would be Montana’s second wolf hunt since 2009, when 72 wolves were killed,” wrote Scott Volz of Associated Press.
The Idaho Department of Fish & Game was reportedly also considering setting a quota of 220. About 705 wolves are believed to inhabit Idaho. Like Montana, Idaho authorized a wolf hunt in 2009, with a quota of 220. Idaho hunters actually shot 188 wolves. While the Idaho quota will not be finalized until August, the Department of Fish & Game started the killing early by hiring USDA Wildlife Services to shoot wolves from a helicopter in an area where wolves are blamed for an elk population decline. “Gunners killed five wolves before the helicopter was grounded because of costs and because of difficulty targeting radio-collared wolves under the cover of trees,” wrote Laura Zuckerman for Thomson/Reuters.
“The state has recruited outfitters to kill another 55 wolves in the area,” Zuckerman added. In addition, Zuckerman wrote, “The state of Idaho has authorized sheriff’s deputies to kill a pack of about seven wolves near Elk City, a community of 200 residents in north central Idaho.”
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife personnel killed a young male wolf on a ranch near Joseph on May 17, the very day of the Department of the Interior “next steps” announcement, shot another 10 days later, and in between issued permits to 12 ranchers that allow them to shoot any wolf they see in the acts of biting, wounding, or killing livestock.
Congressional Representative Candice Miller (R-Michigan) meanwhile on May 10 introduced legislation which would remove all wolves in the Lower 48 from federal protection. “Backed by extremist groups like Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife and Big Game Forever,” fumed Defenders of Wildlife president Rodger Schlickeisen, “this shows what a dangerous path we are on. Congress should uphold America’s commitment to protecting imperiled wildlife,” Schlickeisen said, “rather than trying to appease radical special interest groups that are working against the public interest.”
No longer responsible for wolves in most states, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service quietly dropped a policy introduced during the administration of former President George W. Bush which allowed endangered species listing decisions to vary from state to state. Allowing wolves to be downlisted in Idaho and Montana, while remaining protected in Wyoming, the policy was successfully challenged in a federal court lawsuit by a coalition of 13 environmental advocacy groups and the Humane Society of the U.S., who argued that political boundaries have no relevance to conservation status. The August 2010 ruling, by federal District Judge Molloy, led to the Act of Congress that stripped most wolves in the Lower 48 of Endangered Species Act protection.
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