GREATER YELLOWSTONE and the NORTHERN ROCKIES
On March 6th, 2009, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the Bush Administration's discredited plan to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Idaho and Montana -- a decision that could lead to the deaths of more than 1,000 wolves!
Just one year after the famous wolf Limpy was shot and killed just outside Yellowstone National Park -- President Obama’s pick as Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has taken it upon himself to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Greater Yellowstone, the Northern Rockies and other parts of the American West.
As a result of Salazar’s action, more than 1,000 wolves in Idaho and Montana could be killed by people like Idaho Governor Butch Otter, who recently reaffirmed that he wants to be one of the first to shoot a wolf.
Please watch the new Northern Rockies wolf video below and urge President Obama now to restore life-saving protections for our wolves!
Salazar’s decision is a mistake, and we have to let the Obama Administration know it. To send a strong message, we need to generate at least 100,000 messages in support of protections for our wolves before May 4th, when the federal protections are lifted and the wolf killing can resume (please add your signature to the petitions in the "Take Action" spot below).
Last year, when the Bush/Cheney Administration briefly eliminated these vital federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies, more than 100 of the region’s estimated 1,500 wolves were killed in just a couple of short months, until Defenders of Wildlife succeeded in convincing a federal judge to stop the killing.
Now Secretary Salazar has approved the exact proposal for which the Bush Administration was roundly criticized. And he did so with no consultation with wildlife advocates and with no warning of what he was thinking.
The following is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president for Defenders of Wildlife:
"We're on the eve of a tragic event in the history of the conservation of endangered species. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to adopt the Bush administration's plan to remove Endangered Species Act protection for wolves in the Northern Rockies is a loss for the wolves, a loss for their ecosystems and a loss for sound science serving as the backbone of the Endangered Species Act.
Wolves will once again be in the crosshairs to be needlessly killed starting May 4. Under the inadequate federal delisting rule, as much as two-thirds of the current Northern Rockies wolf population can be killed. Defenders of Wildlife will not stand by and let this go unchallenged."
(read more HERE)
AERIAL GUNNING in ALASKA
"Aerial gunning" is the cowardly act of shooting animals from aircrafts.
More than 900 wolves in Alaska have been killed by aerial gunning since 2003, and Governor Palin is pushing to kill even more wolves this year using aerial gunning, poison gas and snares.
Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin wants to offer $150 bounties to encourage hunters to kill more wolves. Even worse, Idaho and Wyoming have proposed aerial gunning programs of their own, meaning that soon the wolves of Yellowstone could be gunned down from airplanes if they leave the safety of the park.
Alaskan wolves receive no Endangered Species Act protections, and the species has long been vilified. In the 1940s and 1950s, widespread wolf killings occurred via poisonings, bounties, and aerial shooting by federal agents. After Alaska became a state in 1959, poisoning was prohibited by legislative action and bounties were soon stopped. Aerial shooting of wolves became common in the 1960s. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game ceased issuing aerial permits in 1972 after passage of the federal Airborne Hunting Act. The Act prohibits the shooting of wolves directly from airplanes but left legalize the practice known as "land and shoot" -- where a hunter can land a plane and shoot the animal from the ground.
(read more HERE)
MEXICAN GREY WOLVES
Mexican wolves remain one of the most endangered species in the United States.
But recovery efforts have yet to ensure a lasting future for these animals that play an important role in the culture and the wilderness of the Southwest.
Misinformation and anti-wolf sentiment runs high, with the few remaining wolves in Arizona and New Mexico at risk of extinction.
With ONLY two breeding pairs of Mexican wolves left in the wild and a total of ONLY 52 wild Mexicans grey, we need sensible, science-based wolf management to ensure the “lobo” will survive -- and thrive -- in the wilds of the Southwest.
(more info HERE)
TAKE ACTION
- Urge President Obama to Stand Up for Wolves
- End Aerial Hunting of Alaska's Wolves
- Speak Up for Southwest Wolves
- Heart of the Wolf - Action Alert
- Wolf-Dogs for Adoption
- Adopt a Wolf
LINKS
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Mexican Wolves
- Heart of the Wolf
- End Aerial Gunning of Wildlife
- Timber Wolf Information
- Main Wolf Coalition
- The Wolf Sanctuary
- Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary
- Wolf Education Research Centre
- National Wildlife Federation
- International Wolf Centre Home
- FAQ - Basic Wolves Information
- Wolf Anti-Defamation League
.... and as farewell, "A Man Among Wolves" - A Good Wolf Story to read HERE .. and watch below:
