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Wolves Face Delisting Threat in Several States:
Anti-wildlife members of Congress continue efforts to undermine protections for
gray
wolves and their latest attempt is to insert a rider into the 2016
funding bill for the Department of the Interior that would remove federal
protection for wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes states. This isn’t the only
anti-wildlife rider included in this must-pass funding bill for DOI. In fact,
this bill has over 20 policy riders that would undermine the Obama
Administration’s efforts to address climate change, block efforts to protect clean air and
water, weaken land conservation and undercut endangered species protections.
Introduced last week, this bill is rapidly advancing through Congress and, to
date, all of the anti-environmental policy provisions are still
included.
Not only would the wolf delisting policy rider end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming and in the Midwest, the way the policy is written prohibits this ruling from ever being subject to “judicial review,” meaning that once passed, this rule could never be overturned by a future judge. Last year we fought tooth and nail to overturn a previous delisting of wolves in Wyoming… and we won. While wolves today have protections in both Wyoming and the Great Lakes states, if this policy rider is passed, unlimited wolf killing in over 80 percent of Wyoming would be reinstated. Help us by telling Congress these anti-wildlife provisions don’t belong in this bill and that decisions about wolf recovery should be based upon biological and scientific considerations alone, and not politics. A Good Wolf Read: Interactions between apex predators and their prey are some of the most awe inspiring scenes in nature and also some most difficult to document. Wolves’ speed, wild habitat, and general preference for avoiding humans, makes studying their hunting habits particularly hard. “Wolves on the Hunt: the Behavior of Wolves Hunting Wild Prey” – written by three of the nation’s most preeminent wolf scientists – is the first book to focus solely on the hunting behavior of wolves and is the culmination of thousands of hours of original field observation, data collection and literature review. While wolves are able to take down just about any species, it comes at a physical cost. Hunting is the most time-consuming task in a wolf’s life and wolves are only successful if they persist through regular failure, travel extremely long distances and target elderly, diseased and injured members of prey populations. For all wildlife lovers, this is a must read. The post Wolf Weekly Wrap-Up appeared first on Defenders of Wildlife Blog.  |
Mexican
gray wolves are facing one of the most preventable extinctions in U.S. history.
The
Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, has been hanging by a thread for decades. Roughly
109 animals roam the wild of Arizona and New Mexico in a tiny fraction of what
was once their home.
But
after more than two decades of foot-dragging and bureaucratic red tape, the lobo
is still in serious danger. And now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is
ready to abandon the development of a science-based recovery plan and let the
states of New Mexico and Arizona – both brimming with anti-wolf politicians –
call the shots going forward!
Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
enough is enough! Don't let the states hijack wolf recovery.
When
Mexican gray wolves were first protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
in 1976, FWS was required to create a recovery plan for the species – a document
that would map out how to protect these wolves from the threats they faced and
how to successfully recover them.
Yet
in the almost 40 years that Mexican gray wolves have been listed, FWS has never
created a legally compliant recovery plan for them – and the species is slowly
slipping away.
That’s
why back in November, Defenders of Wildlife went to court to demand that FWS
step up and create a compliant recovery plan before it was too late. Instead,
FWS is striking back-room deals with the states and allowing politics to dictate
the terms of Mexican gray wolf recovery – a potentially fatal decision.
A state-written recovery plan would
ignore hard science and doom the lobos to extinction.
The
Arizona Game and Fish Commission has been bullying FWS for years - limiting wolf
releases and even calling for the Mexican gray wolf to lose all federal
protection. If FWS allows the states to take over, the future of these wolves
would be placed in the hands of extreme anti-wolf politicians, in states that
had a hand in the near extinction of Mexican gray wolves in the first place!
This
is a dangerous case of politics over science and back-room deals. FWS appears to
be walking away from their obligation to this critically endangered species and
instead handing over the fate of Mexican gray wolves to overtly anti-wolf state
politicians.
