Help Save Rocky Mountain Wolves in Danger Today

Recently, Greater Yellowstone wolves gained protection by Judge Donald Molloy's ruling to restore Rocky Mountain wolves to the Endangered Species Act. However, a branch of the Department of Agriculture called Federal Wildlife Services (FWS) - referred to as "the government's wildlife killing experts" by The Defenders of Wildlife - have already started planning to kill hundreds of wolves located in the area.

Instead of helping ranchers learn to coexist with wolves and other wildlife with non-lethal methods, their plans include the surgical sterilization of alpha wolves and gassing vulnerable young pups that are still living in dens.

According to the Defenders of Wildlife, the FWS leads the pack in killing wolves in the United States, and are now busy strategizing further slaughter of a staggering number of wolves. Their plans point to the further elimination of the resident wolf population by air and land, killing 80 percent of the wolves that live in north-central Idaho.

Due to overwhelming fear stemming from ignorance, in spite of their haunting beauty and essential contribution to the ecology, millions of wolves were recklessly exterminated in the lower 48 states and their presence in the Canadian prairies was drastically reduced during the first half of the 20th century.

With the increasing environmental awareness in the 1960s and 1970s, the Endangered Species Act was set in place in 1973, soon followed by further acts of conservation. Shortly after, the wolf was given a status of endangered or threatened, and declared a candidate for species recovery.

Along with its allies, by the mid 1990s, Defenders of Wildlife successfully assisted the federal government's reintroduction of gray wolves from western Canada into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. They also helped reintroduce the Mexican wolf to the American Southwest.

But the Endangered Species Act is at best contentious with many of our law makers. No matter how hard I try to understand their thinking, many of our leaders obviously don't understand or even care how precious and important our wildlife is for environmental balance.

Upon hearing Judge Molloy's decision, Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch along with Congressmen Walt Minnick and Mike Simpson issued the following statement:

"This decision is disappointing. Judge Molloy ignored the exploding population of wolves in Idaho and the constitutional 10th Amendment right of a state to manage its own wildlife populations. The recovery goals set when the wolf was introduced have been met and greatly exceeded. We remain convinced Idaho can manage wolves in a sustainable and responsible way, just as it has done with other species for decades. We look for a more reasonable decision from a higher court."

Also disappointed with the Judge's decision was Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter. In concluding his statement of disapproval, he said, "rest assured we will exhaust all of our options to legally reverse this ill-advised decision. Today's decision should stand as an indictment of both the ESA and federal government."

On their website, Defenders of Wildlife said, "this unacceptable killing plan cannot be allowed to go forward -- especially since wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies regained protections under the Endangered Species Act."

You can help by taking a moment to use the convenient form supplied by the Defenders of Wildlife to help support their cause.

The deadline for the public's comments is Tuesday, August 31.

Image Source: Wikipedia