News
HSUS and others file suit to reinstate gray wolf protections
A coalition of wildlife protection groups, including The Humane Society of the United States, Born Free USA, Help Our Wolves Live and Friends of Animals and Their Environment, filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking to put the gray wolf back on the Endangered Species List in the Western Great Lakes. The suit was filed in federal district court for the District of Columbia.
Jonathon Loworn with HSUS says in the short time since the protections have been removed, hunters and trappers have killed hundreds of wolves paving the way “for the same state-sponsored eradication policies that pushed this species to the brink of extinction in the first place.”
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp says when the wolf was delisted in January of 2012 the “population had recovered and grown to eight-times delisting goals.” She says the state has successfully moved out of wolf recovery mode and into wolf management mode. “We intend to continue managing wolves in ways that work for Wisconsin, socially and biologically. But to do so, management authority needs to remain in the hands of the state. We must maintain the authority to employ tools, like a wolf hunt, when populations and depredations peak as they have this year. Increased conflicts with domestic livestock and pets benefit neither humans nor wolves.”
HSUS and the other groups were successful in getting the courts to reinstate ESA status for the wolf in 2005, 2008 and 2009. U.S. Fish & Wildlife established the current delisting in December of 2011.
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I would like to see the citations for Jaime’s rant about vicious wolves, especially his alleged ‘child eating’. There is no science or rationality in such a statement.
The hatred of wolves is driven by the cattle corporations (ncba.org) and the American Legislative Executive Council (alec.org), which writes pro-corporation laws. Backwoods males who torture animals, not just wolves, are predators and sociopaths that do the killing and mayhem for the corporate ‘suits’ . Sadly, research shows that persons who abuse animals, also abuse people. As spousal and child abuse is also very high in the rural west, it’s not just about some dog killer boasting about how he tortured a wolf. The ramifications run deep into rural America.
Ranching has long abused the land by overgrazing the west, scouring natural waterways, and now desertification is occurring. Ultimately the cattle industry will starve itself. It’s already starving millions of people, as 1/3 of all edible grains are fed to cattle, not people. The federal land agencies are allowing it, since they are now one and the same, thanks to Citizens United 2011. I say, repeal the Taylor Grazing Act. Ruin your private land. Leave wildlife alone, they are not yours.
IMHO, people and organizations that release and or protect dangerous wild animals such as serial sport killing wolves need to be held strictly liable under personal injury laws for all the injuries and damages the animals cause. The horrible way canines eat on their victims, including human children, without killing them first is almost unprintable.