Bush Administration Pulls Trigger on Wolves

Things have gone from bad to worse for wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.

In February, the Bush/Cheney Administration is stripping these amazing animals of vital federal protections, officially opening the door to the shooting, trapping, and killing of up to 1,200 wolves.

Under existing state management plans -- plans approved by the Bush Administration -- all but 300 hundred wolves could be killed. That’s 80% of the wild wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies!

Idaho officials want to use aerial gunning to kill wolves in their state. Wyoming agencies have left the door open to the use of traps and poison to eliminate wolves. And officials in both states -- and Montana -- have proposed wolf hunts.

These wolves have only just begun to recover from the brink of extinction. Without our intervention, nearly 80% of the wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming could be killed, a huge setback to years of hard work restoring them to their natural habitat.

To help stop the carnage, see: http://www.earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/wolf-delisting.html and

http://action.defenders.org/site/PageServer?pagename=savewolves_homepage

Read the New York Times Editorial on this issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/opinion/28mon2.html

Background:

Once virtually wiped off the map by decades of hunting, trapping and poisoning, wolf numbers are now slowly rising thanks to recovery efforts. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has just issued a rule permitting states to kill wolves affecting elk herds in any way in the northern Rockies.

Wolves play an important role in the northern Rockies and, since their reintroduction, are helping to restore balance to the natural environment. They keep elk and deer populations healthy by taking down sick, weak, and diseased animals. This helps prevent overcrowding and disease outbreaks, leading to stronger, healthier herds.

Wolves provide food for other animals who feed on the leftover remains of the hunt. These animals include eagles, foxes, coyotes and ravens.

Wolves also keep vegetation and streams healthy by preventing elk and deer from overgrazing stream banks. More vegetation along the banks means less soil erosion and more clean cold streams for fish and wildlife.

Ever since their successful reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, wolves have become one of the park's main attractions, bringing in $35 million a year in tourism to the local economy. In fact, polls have consistently shown that wolf recovery is widely supported by a vast majority of Americans who take pride in knowing that wolves are now once again part of the great American wilderness.

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