And the wolf controversy goes on.
As you likely remember, the wolf was officially taken off the endangered species list on March 28 of this year. Since then over 40 wolves have been killed.
Last week, despite much protest against the idea, Idaho’s Fish and Game commission increased the number of wolves that may be killed in the state from 328 to 428. This is from the state’s total population of 700 wolves.
Meanwhile, in response to the request from a consortium of environmental groups to put the Rocky Mountain gray wolf back under Federal protection and to stop the killing, the feds tried to delay a hearing on the matter. But U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy went ahead and set the hearing on the request anyway, saying he was “unwilling to risk more deaths.” The hearing on the request for an injunction to stop the wolf hunting will be held tomorrow, May 29, in Missoula, Montana.
Yesterday, Salon magazine ran an interesting article by Katharine Mieszkowski on the issue of taking the gray wolf off the endangered species list called Killing the Wolves Again.
Mieszkowski opens with the story of the well-known wolf from Yellowstone’s Druid pack nicknamed Limpy because of an injured leg, who was killed the first day the ban on hunting was lifted.
Here’s a clip from the rest of Mieszkowski’s article:
….The wave of killing has raised the absurd specter that while the United States spent millions to bring wolves back to the region in the name of conservation, and to restore a fraction of the West to its former wildness, now the wolves will be slaughtered again. On April 28, a coalition of 12 environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, filed suit in federal court against the Bush administration, challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to remove protections for the animals. The lawsuit contends that because the wolves occupy several distinct areas, there’s not enough genetic diversity within the small number to ensure the wolf’s future. The states’ hunting policies will likely drive down that number even further.
“The states legally could kill down to a total of 300 wolves,” says Doug Honnold, a lawyer for Earthjustice, lead attorney on the case. “We could have 1,200 wolves killed before the federal government would say relisting this population is appropriate. People have worked so hard to promote wolf recovery, and just as we have victory within our grasp, or approaching our grasp, we’re throwing it away and heading in the opposite direction.”
More after the hearing.
Note: I’ve posted in the past about delisting the wolf here and here.
UPDATE #1: Hoping to head off any injunctions from federal Judge Malloy on Thursday, Wyoming Fish and Game set a conservative hunting quota of 25 wolves per year inside the state’s so-called trophy game zone. This compromise approach, limiting the kills to 8 percent of Wyoming’s wolf population, was quite different from the loathsome, in-your-face-screw-you-and-your-wolf-hugging quota set by Idaho F & G which (as noted above) set its quota at 428 kills—or 61 percent of its wolf population.
Now it remains to be seen what Judge Malloy will do.
Good grief, Celeste,…the pictures that you pick. Do you think that hunters are after cute, baby wolves?
It seems to me that adequate studies and hearings have been held on this wolf issue. What’s new that hasn’t already been considered?
No, just looking to shoot their mothers.
Hey, I happen to love this photo for obvious reasons. I have it tacked on my kitchen wall along with my wolf wall calendar (s).
Hey, they kill the cute babies right along with the grizzled old boys — anything that looks like a wolf in their path gets popped.
What are “adequate studies and hearings?” Adequate to whom?
Adequate to anyone with common sense. Liberals are just like nagging wives. They just keep demanding and complaining until they get their way.
Just read this in our local paper:
Threatening fox shot by police
“A local woman who was attacked by a rabid fox last week said she was very thankful for the later intervention by police and the county’s animal control department. Two elementary schools are near the attack site.
“Ultimately police shot and killed the fox, whose remains were sent to a lab at the University of Georgia. The lab confirmed the presence of rabies, Brown said.
“Before the fox was killed, it attacked another man going to his mailbox and a shop vac that was put on the ground by a woman who’d just come from the store, Brown said.”
First it’s the foxes. Next, it’s the wolves.
More dangerous wildlife
Bear spotted taking a dip at the Hard Rock pool in Orlando – “Mike Orlando, a wildlife biologist, said black bears are typically shy animals and that this one should not be a threat to residents in the area.”
Hah! Next…
“A 12-year-old girl picking up a seedless watermelon from a bin (at a Wal-Mart in West Virginia) was stung Sunday by a tan, inch-long scorpion that had apparently stowed away in a shipment from Mexico.”
More reason to have a border fence.
We Pokey’s hold wolves in the highest esteem and treat them as sacred animals, featured in our ancient songs, dances and stories that have been handed down for generations.
Leave our wolves alone!
Alright, Pokey!!!
More reason to have a border fence.
Yeah, that will keep away burrowing animals . . .