Wolves’ Removal from Endangered List a Disputed ‘Success’

[nosmokes]

I'm not anti-hunting, even hunting wolves, although i don't think i could ever drop one. but there's simply no evidence i'm aware of that there needs to be massive hunts, that what's going on now isn't working. ranchers i know in eastern oregon aren't having any serious problems with wolf predation. the recent elk season was a huge success with all tags checked getting a buck. the herds are healthy and strong despite some drought conditions earlier in the season that might have had a deletirious effect on forage. but we're not talking hunts here we're slaughter.Idaho wants to take the population down to bare survival rate- 10 mating pairs or roughly 100 wolves. there's just no call for such action.
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original-new standard news


Wolves’ Removal from Endangered List a Disputed ‘Success’
by Michelle Chen

Feb. 6 – With the federal government poised to remove some gray wolves from the Endangered Species List, environmentalists fear officials are prematurely celebrating "recovery" while ushering in mass slaughter.

Claiming success in rehabilitating the wolves from near extinction, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) contends federal protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain states are no longer needed. The agency has proposed to turn management of the wolves over to state and tribal authorities in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, as well as in parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

While many conservation groups say there has been promising growth in wolf populations nationwide, some argue that delisting Northern Rockies wolves could undo precarious progress.

Organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) warn the proposal would encourage people to slaughter wolves for sport or to prevent them from killing livestock. Currently, killing wolves protected by the Endangered Species Act even to defend livestock animals is restricted, though not completely barred; after delisting, restrictions on wolf slaughter would be set by individual states.

The FWS said it may keep a limited segment of Wyoming federally protected because the state's current wolf-management policy would allow slaughter of the animals at unacceptable levels.

In a statement opposing the delisting, the CBD called the action "both illegal and unsupported by science." The group helped block a separate 2003 initiative to de-list the wolves in the eastern and western United States in a lawsuit brought by environmentalists against the Bush administration. The CBD predicted the current proposal would also be thwarted though litigation.

Farming and hunting interests, represented by groups like Idaho Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, have pushed for the lifting of wolf protections, citing an economic threat from wolves preying on game and livestock animals.
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complete article here

[nam78_two]

1. K&R.nt