Confirmed: Gray Wolf Shot and Killed in Utah was Grand Canyon
visitor:
Sad news this week: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed through DNA analysis that the endangered gray wolf shot dead in Utah late last year was indeed the lone female recently made famous for her journey through the Northern Rockies to the Grand Canyon. The wolf was illegally killed in December by a hunter who reportedly mistook her for a coyote. Unfortunately, events like this may become more frequent if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moves forward with its plans to delist gray wolves in the Lower 48. Removing federal protections for wolves would give states the authority to manage them. And today, most states don’t even have plans in place to protect gray wolves, and those that do often focus more on killing wolves than protecting them or managing them responsibly. With patchwork protections for the species implemented at the discretion of each state, wolves will not be able to safely move across state lines, reducing the possibility that wolves will establish new populations in other areas of the country with suitable habitat – like the Grand Canyon.
Bills to Delist Wolves in Wyoming and Great Lakes are Introduced in Congress:
The post Wolf Weekly Wrap-Up appeared first on Defenders of Wildlife Blog.
Two separate pieces of legislation to eliminate federal protections for wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Wyoming were introduced in Congress this week. These two pieces of legislation, the first sponsored by Representative Kline (R-MN) focused on removing protections in the Great Lakes states, and the second by Representatives Ribble (R-WI) and Lummis (R-WY) that would encompass the Great Lakes and Wyoming both. These bills come just a few months after courts set aside rules that delisted wolves in those regions, keeping wolves protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). In response, Jamie Rappaport Clark, President and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, said: “Congressional delisting of wolves under the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming and the Great Lakes will surely throw open the floodgates to endless proposals to delist additional species based upon politics and not science, undermining the integrity of the act and our ability to conserve the nation’s most imperiled wildlife.” You can help us by also telling Congress it must keep politics out of wolf recovery.
CREDIT: COURTESY OF CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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 backfrom the brink of extinction after decades of reckless killings.
“The fact the 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.
While the gray wolf may be making a comeback it still occupies only around 10 percent of its historic range, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which states thatresearchers have identified more than 350,000 square miles of unoccupied suitable wolf habit including remote stretches of the southern Rockies, Adirondacks, Sierra Nevada, and Cascade mountains. In the mid-20th century, the only places gray wolves could be found in the U.S. included a slice of northern Minnesota and Michigan’s Isle Royale.
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.”
There are now more than 6,000 gray wolves in the continental United States, concentrated in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as the Rocky Mountain states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and eastern Oregon and Washington.
As urban boundaries sprawl across the West — encroaching further into wild areas suitable for large animals such as wolves — the issue of co-existence becomes more important as animals have limited alternative habitat to retreat into. While ranchers and sportsmen are familiar with the challenges of habituating among wild animals, larger and denser developments can cause the tensions to escalate.
“As urban habitats expand into undeveloped areas there is an increasing challenge with ensuring wolves can peacefully co-exist with humans,” said Thakar.
Existing with humans means far more than just learning how to cross the street: on top of sprawling development, expansive ecological damage associated with climate change and fossil fuel extraction cause massive habitat degradation. Even the species that thrive in this new human-dominated era, such as coyotes, are caught in a continuous struggle — and the results can be surprising.
This year a black bear killed a hiker in New Jersey for the first time in over 150 years as the bear population grows and spreads throughout the state. Polar bear attacks on humans are increasing in areas around the Arctic. And a new hybrid between coyotes and wolves, the coywolf, is rapidly expanding across the East as it combines the prowess of a wolf and cunning of a coyote — a bad combination for deer, another species that is thriving across suburban America.
With more species struggling to survive in a dramatically altered wild, this co-existence with unfamiliar species may become increasingly common as human populations continue to grow, urbanize, and demand more resources.
Congress
Takes on Wolves
Plans
are underway to introduce legislation to strip gray wolves in Wyoming and the
Great Lakes of ESA protections.The most anti-wildlife Congress in decades is just warming up, but gray wolves
are already in their sights.
Plans are underway to introduce legislation that would strip gray wolves in Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota of newly reinstated protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Tell your members of Congress to let science and law govern wolf recovery and to keep politics out of it!
It was Congress that stripped gray wolves in Montana and Idaho of ESA protections. As you know, Idaho has been a veritable free-fire zone since the state took over wolf management.
And to make matters worse, while we’re certain of congressional efforts to delist wolves in Wyoming and across the Great Lakes, it could be only a matter of time before legislation is introduced or amended to delist almost all gray wolves in the Lower 48 and bar protections for other critically imperiled species. We have to stand strong against any congressional attempt to delist individual species. If politicians, not wildlife biologists, are able to dictate which species deserve protection, it opens up a Pandora’s box on endangered species protection!
Thanks to the ESA, we have seen the recovery of some of America’s most beloved species, including the bald eagle, our national symbol – it is one of the greatest wildlife conservation achievements of our time.
Politically delisting gray wolves will only open the floodgates to an endless series of other congressional proposals to delist endangered species. And it could be the beginning of the end of the ESA itself!
Tell your members of Congress: Hands off gray wolves, and hands off the ESA!
Over the past six months, in response to lawsuits from the Center and our allies, federal judges overturned a series of bad decisions to end Endangered Species Act protection for wolves. These important rulings put an end to wolf killing in Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- killing that included trophy hunts and cruel traps. Now Congress wants to override the courts, ignore the Endangered Species Act and bring back the killing.
To stop this we need to immediately rally thousands of wolf supporters nationwide to make their voices heard in Washington. We don't have the deep pockets of the Koch brothers, so we need your contribution to the Wolf Defense Fund today.
This is not an idle threat. In 2011 Congress forced an end to wolf protection in Idaho and Montana. The result has been the slaughter of more than 1,000 wolves.
The Center's scientists, lawyers and activists can stop this terrible bill. We have stopped wolf killing many times in the courtroom and prevented many anti-wolf, anti-endangered species bills from getting through Congress. With your help we'll win this emergency battle as well.
Wolves are some of the most persecuted, hated, and misunderstood wild animals and, as a result, in many states have lost their Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. Now, wolf haters are again attempting a political maneuver to attach a rider to a "must pass" bill, which would strip ESA protection for all wolves in America.
Hunters and trappers, who kill wolves for fun,
"recreation," fur, and trophies; ranchers, in states like Montana, who can
officially kill a total of 100 wolves annually by claiming that they, or their
agents, felt threatened by the presence of a wolf who may just be passing
through; governmental agencies, who kill wolves at the order of the ranching and
livestock industry; and "scientists," e.g., a
group of Canadian researchers who, in a recent study on Woodland
Caribou, killed nearly 900 wolves by viciously gunning them down from
helicopters, by trapping them in cruel leghold traps, and using strychnine to
horrifically poison them, which was used in the nineteenth century in an attempt
to eradicate all wolves.
Click here to read more and take action.
Plans are underway to introduce legislation that would strip gray wolves in Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota of newly reinstated protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Tell your members of Congress to let science and law govern wolf recovery and to keep politics out of it!
It was Congress that stripped gray wolves in Montana and Idaho of ESA protections. As you know, Idaho has been a veritable free-fire zone since the state took over wolf management.
And to make matters worse, while we’re certain of congressional efforts to delist wolves in Wyoming and across the Great Lakes, it could be only a matter of time before legislation is introduced or amended to delist almost all gray wolves in the Lower 48 and bar protections for other critically imperiled species. We have to stand strong against any congressional attempt to delist individual species. If politicians, not wildlife biologists, are able to dictate which species deserve protection, it opens up a Pandora’s box on endangered species protection!
Thanks to the ESA, we have seen the recovery of some of America’s most beloved species, including the bald eagle, our national symbol – it is one of the greatest wildlife conservation achievements of our time.
Politically delisting gray wolves will only open the floodgates to an endless series of other congressional proposals to delist endangered species. And it could be the beginning of the end of the ESA itself!
Tell your members of Congress: Hands off gray wolves, and hands off the ESA!
Tell Congress to Stand Up for Wolves
Recently the town of Adin, in the rural northeast corner of California, held its annual coyote killing spree, the "Big Valley Coyote Drive," despite the 2014 ban on prizes for killing furbearing animals in contests.
Concerned about the high potential for law-breaking at this event, the Animal Legal Defense Fund sent a formal letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Law Enforcement Division, asking them to send an observer to the Pit River Rod and Gun Club and Adin Supply-sponsored killing contest. Last December, the California Fish and Game Commission banned the distribution of prizes in killing contests.
Historically, every February for the last eight years, contest participants in Adin's Coyote Drive have competed for large cash prizes and other awards to see who can kill the most native coyotes. These prizes were outlawed in 2014 in California's Fish and Game Code.
California taxpayers overwhelmingly support the Commission's ban on killing contest prizes. A wide majority of hunters also support the ban. In these bloodbaths, animals like foxes, coyotes, and bobcats are cruelly killed for no other reason than to procure prizes for killing. Tens of thousands of signatures have been garnered on a Project Coyote petition to ban wildlife killing contests in California.
You can read more about ALDF's letter, and sign the pledge to boycott all killing contests on ALDF's website.
Concerned about the high potential for law-breaking at this event, the Animal Legal Defense Fund sent a formal letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Law Enforcement Division, asking them to send an observer to the Pit River Rod and Gun Club and Adin Supply-sponsored killing contest. Last December, the California Fish and Game Commission banned the distribution of prizes in killing contests.
Historically, every February for the last eight years, contest participants in Adin's Coyote Drive have competed for large cash prizes and other awards to see who can kill the most native coyotes. These prizes were outlawed in 2014 in California's Fish and Game Code.
California taxpayers overwhelmingly support the Commission's ban on killing contest prizes. A wide majority of hunters also support the ban. In these bloodbaths, animals like foxes, coyotes, and bobcats are cruelly killed for no other reason than to procure prizes for killing. Tens of thousands of signatures have been garnered on a Project Coyote petition to ban wildlife killing contests in California.
You can read more about ALDF's letter, and sign the pledge to boycott all killing contests on ALDF's website.
Learn more
Our sources in the Capitol have confirmed that tomorrow politicians in Congress will introduce a bill to strip federal protection from 4,000 wolves in four critical states -- opening the door to widespread slaughter of these intelligent, social animals.
We must stop this bill, and to do so we need your support with a contribution to the Center for Biological Diversity's Wolf Defense Fund.
Over the past six months, in response to lawsuits from the Center and our allies, federal judges overturned a series of bad decisions to end Endangered Species Act protection for wolves. These important rulings put an end to wolf killing in Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- killing that included trophy hunts and cruel traps. Now Congress wants to override the courts, ignore the Endangered Species Act and bring back the killing.
To stop this we need to immediately rally thousands of wolf supporters nationwide to make their voices heard in Washington. We don't have the deep pockets of the Koch brothers, so we need your contribution to the Wolf Defense Fund today.
This is not an idle threat. In 2011 Congress forced an end to wolf protection in Idaho and Montana. The result has been the slaughter of more than 1,000 wolves.
The Center's scientists, lawyers and activists can stop this terrible bill. We have stopped wolf killing many times in the courtroom and prevented many anti-wolf, anti-endangered species bills from getting through Congress. With your help we'll win this emergency battle as well.
We have to win, because if we don't, thousands of wolves in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan will be slaughtered. The 40-year wolf recovery program will be terminated with wolves still missing from 95 percent of their historic range. Our hopes for wolves to return to New York, Maine, Colorado, Utah and California will be dashed. The stakes could not be higher.
With your help we will keep wolves out of the crosshairs.
Wolves are some of the most persecuted, hated, and misunderstood wild animals and, as a result, in many states have lost their Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. Now, wolf haters are again attempting a political maneuver to attach a rider to a "must pass" bill, which would strip ESA protection for all wolves in America.
The agents of death for wolves are
everywhere.
Wolves have been betrayed by politics
before.
Click here to read more and take action.
PETITIONS TO SIGN:
Tell FWS: Don’t Give Up on Red Wolf Recovery!
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to give up on red wolves and shut down the wolf’s recovery program in the wild – and shockingly there are indications FWS may take the proposal seriously!
These critically endangered cousins of the gray wolf were nearly exterminated, until a reintroduction program was launched in 1987. Today, roughly 100 of these animals survive in a small patch of eastern North Carolina scrub forest.
Federal officials expect to make a decision by sometime in March!
So it’s critical that you act now and tell FWS to stand up for red wolves and continue recovery efforts – please act today!
These critically endangered cousins of the gray wolf were nearly exterminated, until a reintroduction program was launched in 1987. Today, roughly 100 of these animals survive in a small patch of eastern North Carolina scrub forest.
Federal officials expect to make a decision by sometime in March!
So it’s critical that you act now and tell FWS to stand up for red wolves and continue recovery efforts – please act today!
Tell Congress: Keep Your Hands Off Our Wolves
The Endangered Species Act requires science-based standards for adding or removing protections from a particular species, but recently Congress has used must-pass bills to dodge this process. These bills include unconnected provisions called riders that get forced through because the main legislation needs to be passed -- and now Congress has set its sights on gray wolves.
Lawmakers are attempting to strip wolves of their protections via this underhanded, anti-democratic process. We need your help to stop it.
Judges have repeatedly overturned rules stripping wolves of their federal protection -- with only 5 percent of suitable wolf habitat currently occupied and almost constant threats to their safety, these apex predators still desperately need the Act's protection to survive.
In places where wolves don't have protection, like Idaho and Montana, ruthless killing is decimating their populations. And these wolves lost protection in 2011 because of a rider attached to a budget bill -- we can't let that happen to the rest of America's wolves.
Act now: Use the form below to tell Congress not to strip Endangered Species Act protection from wolves.
Lawmakers are attempting to strip wolves of their protections via this underhanded, anti-democratic process. We need your help to stop it.
Judges have repeatedly overturned rules stripping wolves of their federal protection -- with only 5 percent of suitable wolf habitat currently occupied and almost constant threats to their safety, these apex predators still desperately need the Act's protection to survive.
In places where wolves don't have protection, like Idaho and Montana, ruthless killing is decimating their populations. And these wolves lost protection in 2011 because of a rider attached to a budget bill -- we can't let that happen to the rest of America's wolves.
Act now: Use the form below to tell Congress not to strip Endangered Species Act protection from wolves.
Click Here To Sign!
Save Wolves from Hunting and Trapping
Click Here To Sign!
Save Wolves from Hunting and Trapping
Target: U.S. Congress
Goal: Stop the attack on wolves throughout the lower 48 United States.
Tell Congress to Keep Politics Out of Wolf Recovery!Click Here To Sign!
