Public Comments Needed to Oppose Delisting of Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolves
Urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to postpone delisting and raise wolf recovery goals above minimum levels
 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) has proposed to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain (NRM) states from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Species. The government feels current “recovery goals” are sufficient and have been sustained long enough to delist wolves in all of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, the eastern one-third of Washington and Oregon, and a small part of north-central Utah. Montana, Idaho and Wyoming wolf management plans would each be required to maintain a population of 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs. This translates into a total of only 300 wolves, including 30 breeding pairs (packs) able to live without being hunted in the Northern Rocky Mountain Range.
Currently, the wolf population in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming total at least 89 breeding pairs (or 89 packs) and 1,243 gray wolves. Delisting will give eager ranchers and hunters their shot at killing up to 59 breeding pairs and 943 wolves. This could endanger the very survival of this species in areas to which they are native.
The combination of federal protection, reintroduction programs and dispersal of gray wolves from Canada into American wolf habitat have enabled them to occupy 6% of their historic range. Wolves once roamed over all of the U.S. before they were hunted, trapped and poisoned to the brink of extinction by ranchers and government agencies. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has protected gray wolves and allowed the species a chance to recover.
Despite this success, the Service feels 300 wolves is adequate for the species’ survival, and is ready to hand over the lives of an estimated 943 wolves to state legislatures that have been eager to kill off wolves who they accuse of threatening their hunting success and their livestock. This reflects and perpetuates the attitude that moose, deer, elk and other “prey” should be hunted only by man, and not the natural predators that rely on them for survival. This is the same attitude that fueled the worst extermination plan of a non-human species in North American history
It is premature for wolf management to be turned over to the states, least of all Wyoming. In fact, even the Service has openly stated they will not release management of wolves to the state because they do not even meet the most minimal requirements for delisting. As published by the Service in the Federal Register, “Making the problem worse, Wyoming could well be overestimating the number of breeding pairs. Wyoming incorrectly used, as the Service initially did, a linear regression to predict a relationship between wolf group size and its potential to be a breeding pair. This was mathematically incorrect and greatly overestimated wolf breeding pairs in Wyoming, because the relationship is logistic.” The Service further stated that “Wyoming State law defines a wolf pack in a manner that has little biological relationship to wolf recovery goals or population viability, and minimizes opportunities for adaptive wildlife.”
Much more alarming is that current Wyoming State Law designates wolves as a “predatory animal”, which is defined in the Federal Register as:
“…under the jurisdiction of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and may be taken by anyone, anywhere in the predatory animal area, at any time, without limit, and by any means (including shoot-on-sight; baiting; possible limited use of poisons; bounties and wolf killing contests; locating and killing pups in dens including using explosives and gas cartridges; trapping; snaring; aerial gunning; and use of other mechanized vehicles to locate or chase wolves down).”
There is a major debate between Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the boundaries where wolves would be classified as predators and trophy animals. Wyoming wants to expand the area where they would be designated predators. The Wyoming Senate recently approved measures to give the governor’s office authority to negotiate with the Service over the boundaries. Mitch King, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said that any reduction in the boundaries previously proposed by Wyoming would be unacceptable.
Wolf populations only occupy 6% of their historic range, and are still in a state of recovery. As stated in the Federal Register, “recovery plans are not regulated documents and are instead intended to provide guidance to the Service, States, and other partners on methods of minimizing threats to listed species and on criteria that may be used to determine when recovery is achieved.” We need to push to have the recovery goals raised so that hundreds if not thousands of wolves will be spared from being brutally killed just as they are making a historic comeback in their native country.
If wolves are delisted, the worst wolf massacre in the lower 48 states in decades will soon ensue. Even worse, it could be executed using egregious killing methods that no civilized person would consider appropriate for "wolf management" efforts. None of the states' wolf management plans adequately address the underlying issues that once brought these magnificent animals to the brink of extinction before they were pulled back by aggressive conservation. In so doing, they ignore not only the wolves' welfare, but also the crucial role the species plays in maintaining balanced ecosystems.
Wolves are also important to the millions of nature lovers who visit our national parks every year. According to a recent study, over 150,000 people go to Yellowstone National Park each year just to see wolves, adding $35 million to the economies of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. In addition, almost 4% of the Park's nearly three million annual visitors said they would not have visited Yellowstone if there were no wolves.
Wolves live together, forming close bonds with members of their packs. They raise their young much like mother dogs raise puppies. It is a sad tragedy that these magnificent and sentient animals may be hunted down again and exterminated.
For more information, please send an email to wildlife@idausa.org. |
