Don’t Hunt Endangered Wolves With Dogs.
So why did the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
decide to pull the plug on the recovery of red wolves? That's what we aim to
find out. This week the Center sued the agency under the Freedom of Information
Act to get public records explaining what happened. We requested the public
records last fall, but over the course of seven months, the Service has sent a
total of only eight documents to the Center, and it continues to ignore the
law's mandated deadlines.
There are as few as 45 red wolves remaining in the wild, all of them in North Carolina. The population had exceeded more than 130 wild wolves as recently as 2012, but it has now declined by 50 percent following the Service's recent actions to curtail the species' recovery program.
"The agency's obstinate behavior is a telling indicator of just how political its actions have been in this disgraceful attempt to kill off a historic recovery program and condemn red wolves to captivity," said the Center's Brett Hartl. Read more in our press release.
Earlier this month, we learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rogue animal-killing program, USDA Wildlife Services, is employing sickening and brutal strategies to wipe out whole families of wolves in Idaho, by radio-collaring "Judas" wolves and forcing them to be unwilling participants in their track-to-kill scheme.
A Judas wolf is one who is trapped, fitted with a radio collar, and then released back into the wild. The unsuspecting wolf returns home, unwittingly leading government snipers to the location of his den. Once the location of the wolf’s den has been confirmed, USDA Wildlife Services snipers fly to the location and gun the wolves down from helicopters. The snipers kill the wolf’s entire family, including his mate and his pups. He alone is left alive to witness this utter devastation of his pack. Most often, the wolves’ deaths are slow and painful, and the Judas wolf can do nothing but watch them bleed out around him. We cannot fathom the trauma this inflicts on him, and wolves like him. Unfortunately, for Judas wolves, their heartache doesn't end with just one massacre.
Government snipers continue to track them through the season, watching for signs that they've merged with a new pack, or even better, that they've found new mates and have begun new families. Once this is confirmed, the snipers swoop in, again, and repeat this vicious cycle of slaughter—forever condemning these collared wolves to witness their families being murdered over and over with no end in sight. Click here to read more and take action.
Target: U.S. Senate
Goal: Save endangered gray wolves from being trapped, hunted and chased by hunting hounds.
Congress is threatening endangered wolves and other exotic species with extreme anti-wildlife legislation. The “Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015” will jeopardize already endangered species and our environment, and a new amendment would allow the hunting and trapping of wolves in four states.
The Barrassso Amendment #1 would kick gray wolves off of the endangered species list in four states. With this amendment, wolves will lose Endangered Species Act protections. This will expose wolves to trapping and hunting seasons, and would even subject them to being pursued by packs of dogs during Wisconsin’s hound hunting season.
The bill already contains measures that will jeopardize many endangered species, and it goes way beyond subjecting gray wolves to hunting and trapping. It threatens wolverines, endangered birds, and polar bears, among many others. It would allow hunters to import polar bear “trophies” killed in Canada, and federal agencies would be required to open up millions of acres of public lands to hunting and trapping, giving the green light to indiscriminate and inhumane trapping that would put native species of all kinds at untold risk.
The bill would also prohibit the EPA from removing lead from bullets and fishing equipment, exposing millions of birds to lead poisoning every year. California condors, eagles, and at least 70 other wild bird species and scavengers will be exposed to dangerous levels of toxic lead under this plan.
This is the third consecutive year that this bill has been brought to the Senate for consideration. It has failed each previous attempt, and with your help it will fail again. Please sign our petition to ask the U.S. Senate to oppose the Sportsmen’s Act of 2015.
Please Oppose S. 405 the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015.
I am writing to urge you to oppose S.405 and/or any variant of the recently reintroduced “Sportsmen’s Act.” This bill has a number of alarming provisions.
It would open the door to the import of threatened polar bear trophies, setting a dangerous precedent and giving trophy hunters license to aggressively pursue soon-to-be-listed species with the knowledge that Congress will exempt their actions.
It would direct federal agencies to open up millions of acres of land to sport hunting and trapping. Trapping is an outdated, indiscriminate, and cruel activity that puts native species at untold and unwarranted peril. Further, it exposes recreational trail users and their companion animals to thoroughly unjust harm. Its impact on protected species is well documented and is counter to the stated goals of recovering these species.
It would inexplicably prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from continuing its job of regulating toxic lead in our environment. As a nation, we have removed lead from toys, from gasoline, and from paint. There is no reason to allow the continued use of lead in ammunition or in fishing equipment. This bill ignores the growing body of scientific evidence pointing to lead ammunition and fishing equipment as the major sources of lead poisoning exposure for more than 130 species.
It would expand the number and size of shooting ranges on federal lands. These facilities would introduce even more lead onto our landscapes, threatening wildlife as well as the people that visit.
This bill would set back conservation and impose burdens on users of public lands and on federal agencies charged with managing these lands. For these reasons, I urge you to oppose this bill and any similar legislation.
This bill would set back conservation and impose burdens on users of public lands and on federal agencies charged with managing these lands. For these reasons, I urge you to oppose this bill and any similar legislation.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: National Park Service
We're Suing to Save Red Wolves From Extinction -- Please Help -- Only 53 critically endangered red wolves remain in the wild, yet the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service -- the government agency entrusted with their survival --
has pulled the rug out from under them. It's a tragic betrayal of both red
wolves and the Endangered Species Act. We can't let federal cowardice unravel
decades of red wolf recovery.
This has gone far enough. So the Center for Biological Diversity just sued the Service to get documentation of its abandonment plans that it refuses to show the public. Your gift to the Wolf Defense Fund will help us win.
The feds' abandonment of red wolves has already had a devastating impact on one of the most gravely endangered species on the planet. Shootings are escalating -- a nursing mother wolf was recently killed, her orphaned pups left to starve. At least 61 wild red wolves have died since 2012, including 24 from gunshots -- yet the Service has stopped offering rewards for information on poaching. In a recent online post, one wolf-hater suggested capturing and castrating male red wolves, then releasing them back into the wild.
It wasn't always like this. When red wolves were on the brink of going extinct in 1967, the Service heroically stepped in, pulling out all the stops to rescue these beautiful, uniquely American animals from oblivion. But now it wants to slink away from its obligation to protect the remaining 53 wild red wolves left on Earth.
We won't let that happen. Demand the Service do its job of saving red wolves in the wild -- please give to our Wolf Defense Fund now.
If the Service was doing its duty, endangered red wolves wouldn't be shot without consequence, releases of captive-bred wolves wouldn't have been halted, and the red wolf program would still have a director at the helm. Instead the Service is using every stalling tactic in the book to let the recovery program wither and die -- and by refusing to turn over key documents, it's keeping the public in the dark.
Join us to demand that the Service stop caving to anti-wolf extremists. With your gift to the Wolf Defense Fund, we'll stop the lights from going out forever on America's precious red wolves.
This has gone far enough. So the Center for Biological Diversity just sued the Service to get documentation of its abandonment plans that it refuses to show the public. Your gift to the Wolf Defense Fund will help us win.
The feds' abandonment of red wolves has already had a devastating impact on one of the most gravely endangered species on the planet. Shootings are escalating -- a nursing mother wolf was recently killed, her orphaned pups left to starve. At least 61 wild red wolves have died since 2012, including 24 from gunshots -- yet the Service has stopped offering rewards for information on poaching. In a recent online post, one wolf-hater suggested capturing and castrating male red wolves, then releasing them back into the wild.
It wasn't always like this. When red wolves were on the brink of going extinct in 1967, the Service heroically stepped in, pulling out all the stops to rescue these beautiful, uniquely American animals from oblivion. But now it wants to slink away from its obligation to protect the remaining 53 wild red wolves left on Earth.
We won't let that happen. Demand the Service do its job of saving red wolves in the wild -- please give to our Wolf Defense Fund now.
If the Service was doing its duty, endangered red wolves wouldn't be shot without consequence, releases of captive-bred wolves wouldn't have been halted, and the red wolf program would still have a director at the helm. Instead the Service is using every stalling tactic in the book to let the recovery program wither and die -- and by refusing to turn over key documents, it's keeping the public in the dark.
Join us to demand that the Service stop caving to anti-wolf extremists. With your gift to the Wolf Defense Fund, we'll stop the lights from going out forever on America's precious red wolves.
Lawsuit Seeks Records on Decision to End Red Wolf
Recovery
So why did the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
decide to pull the plug on the recovery of red wolves? That's what we aim to
find out. This week the Center sued the agency under the Freedom of Information
Act to get public records explaining what happened. We requested the public
records last fall, but over the course of seven months, the Service has sent a
total of only eight documents to the Center, and it continues to ignore the
law's mandated deadlines.There are as few as 45 red wolves remaining in the wild, all of them in North Carolina. The population had exceeded more than 130 wild wolves as recently as 2012, but it has now declined by 50 percent following the Service's recent actions to curtail the species' recovery program.
"The agency's obstinate behavior is a telling indicator of just how political its actions have been in this disgraceful attempt to kill off a historic recovery program and condemn red wolves to captivity," said the Center's Brett Hartl. Read more in our press release.
Stop Sick "Judas" Wolf Family Massacres
Earlier this month, we learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rogue animal-killing program, USDA Wildlife Services, is employing sickening and brutal strategies to wipe out whole families of wolves in Idaho, by radio-collaring "Judas" wolves and forcing them to be unwilling participants in their track-to-kill scheme.
A Judas wolf is one who is trapped, fitted with a radio collar, and then released back into the wild. The unsuspecting wolf returns home, unwittingly leading government snipers to the location of his den. Once the location of the wolf’s den has been confirmed, USDA Wildlife Services snipers fly to the location and gun the wolves down from helicopters. The snipers kill the wolf’s entire family, including his mate and his pups. He alone is left alive to witness this utter devastation of his pack. Most often, the wolves’ deaths are slow and painful, and the Judas wolf can do nothing but watch them bleed out around him. We cannot fathom the trauma this inflicts on him, and wolves like him. Unfortunately, for Judas wolves, their heartache doesn't end with just one massacre.
Government snipers continue to track them through the season, watching for signs that they've merged with a new pack, or even better, that they've found new mates and have begun new families. Once this is confirmed, the snipers swoop in, again, and repeat this vicious cycle of slaughter—forever condemning these collared wolves to witness their families being murdered over and over with no end in sight. Click here to read more and take action.
A Record Low: 100 Attacks on the Endangered Species Act. Congress’ assault on the Endangered Species Act has reached a new milestone. We’ve been keeping count, and we’ve just hit the 100th attack on protections for America’s wildlife. This week, legislative language was included in the energy and water spending bill that undermines Endangered Species Act protections for salmon and other endangered fish in California’s Bay-Delta ecosystem. The detrimental language is just the latest attack on the Endangered Species Act and America’s land, water and wildlife that it protects. In less than 16 months, members of the 114th Congress have found 100 different ways to undermine the ESA, putting America’s declining wildlife at greater risk of extinction. Collectively, these 100 anti-ESA proposals represent the largest wave of attacks on this conservation law since it was passed 43 years ago.
