[MCN] BREAKING: New Petition Seeks Emergency Protections for Northern Rockies Wolves

Tue Mar 1 14:17:11 EST 2022

*For Release; Tuesday, March 1, 2022*

*Contacts:*• Suzanne Asha Stone, Executive Director, International Wildlife
Coexistence Network, Suzanne at WildlifeCoexistence.org, (208) 861-5177
• Talasi Brooks, Western Watersheds Project, tbrooks at westernwatersheds.org,
(208) 336-9077
• Joe Bushyhead, WildEarth Guardians, jbushyhead at wildearthguardians.org,
(505) 660-0284
• Loren Taylor, Executive Director, Wyoming Untrapped,
info at wyominguntrapped.org, (307) 201-2422
• Leda Huta, Executive Director, Endangered Species Coalition,
lhuta at endangered.org, (301) 585-4278
• Kristin Combs, Executive Director, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates,
kristin at wyowild.org, (307) 413-4116
• Natasha Dolezal, Deputy Director Campaigns, Center for a Humane Economy,
(503) 970-8797
• Nathan Varley, Business Owner, Yellowstone Tracker, (406) 223-2152
• Rick Lamplugh, Author and wildlife advocate, ricklamplugh at gmail.com

*New Petition Seeks* *Emergency Protections for Northern Rockies Wolves*

BOISE, IDAHO—Conservation groups filed a new petition today
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Emergency-Petition-for-Relisting-NRM-Wolves.pdf>
seeking
immediate Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves in the Northern
Rockies, based on the 2009 commitment made by the US Fish and Wildlife
Service to emergency list the species if state laws threaten their
survival.   Idaho and Montana have drastically altered their wolf
management to allow for unregulated wolf-killing and the Service must
adhere to its promise.

When the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed these gray wolves from the
list of endangered and threatened species in 2009, the agency made the
commitment: “[I]f a State changed their regulatory framework to authorize
the unlimited and unregulated taking of wolves . . . emergency listing
would be immediately pursued.” 74 Fed. Reg. at 15,148.” The regulatory
frameworks of the states have in fact changed significantly in 2021,
affecting the core population of the Northern Rockies and the western
states. A recent court ruling reinstated Endangered Species Act protections
for wolves nationwide except for in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and parts of
Oregon and Washington; today’s petition seeks to protect these
still-unprotected wolves.

In Idaho, there is no limit to the number of tags people can buy to kill
wolves.  Already, more than 500 wolves have been killed in 2021 and the
unlimited killing continues. Most were killed as part of a state funded
bounty program that pays up to $2,500 for each wolf killed including
newborn pups in their dens. Bounties of up to $2,500 are being paid in
Idaho and $1000
<https://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wolf-trapping-reimbursement-bill-passes-montana-legislature/article_79aa050d-0271-5d2c-b57e-e2c0ef3b4013.html>
in
Montana are managed by a private organization to incentivize the killing of
wolves. Lucrative bounties like this are not offered for any other species
in either state.

In Montana, a new law allows for killing approximately 85% of the wolf
population and has a disproportionate impact on wolves in Yellowstone,
where they are habituated to seeing people daily and have little to no fear
associated with them. More than 20 Yellowstone wolves
<https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/montana-weighs-wolf-hunt-limits-23-yellowstone-killed-82537107>
have
been reported killed this season – the most ever killed in a single season
– and more than 250 wolves have been killed statewide.

Secretary Haaland has the authority under Section 4(b)(7) of the ESA
(Endangered Species Act) to issue an emergency listing of wolves in the
Northern Rockies. In a recent opinion piece,
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2022/02/07/interior-gray-wolves-protection/9234169002/?gnt-cfr=1>
Secretary
Haaland stated, “Because of the gray wolf’s recovery, individual states
are responsible for its welfare and sustaining that recovery. Nevertheless,
we will reinstate federal protections under the ESA for the northern Rocky
Mountains' gray wolf, if necessary.”

“Secretary Haaland and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must follow
through on their commitment and responsibility to the conservation of
wolves in the Northern Rockies,” says Suzanne Asha Stone, executive
director of the Idaho-based International Wildlife Coexistence Network.
“This is an emergency. Hundreds of wolves have already died, and the next
targets will be pups that will be born in April. This is not hunting: Idaho
is implementing widespread extermination tactics while claiming that the
population is unaffected.”

"Those of us watching what’s happening on the ground in the western states
can attest to the fact that the current state ‘management’ of this species
is far more than a significant risk to the well-being of wolves; it’s
wanton slaughter,” said Talasi Brooks, staff attorney with Western
Watersheds Project. “It’s absolutely necessary for Secretary Haaland to
step in now and protect wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming that are so
critical to the successful recovery of wolves throughout the west.”

“The northern Rocky Mountains should serve as a stronghold for gray wolves,
but state legislatures and wildlife agencies have turned the region into
hostile ground,” said Joe Bushyhead, endangered species policy advocate
with WildEarth Guardians. “With Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming pushing wolves
back to the brink of extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must
reinstate ESA protections.”

"Currently, Wyoming wolves are suppressed to the minimum population numbers
required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent relisting.
Substantial modifications of regulatory mechanisms resulting in boundless
wolf killing in neighboring states (Idaho and Montana) pose significant
threats to an already strained wolf population in Wyoming. It is imperative
that the Service step in to prevent further deterioration of the Northern
Rockies wolf population and stop these actions, which deliberately
undermine decades of work and funding spent to recover wolves in the
western United States." Loren Taylor, Executive Director of Wyoming
Untrapped.

“Recent changes to wolf management allowing lethal neck snares, baiting and
wolf bounties are excessive and out of touch with how the public expected
wolf conservation to be implemented post-delisting,” said Leda Huta,
Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “With these new,
extreme wolf-killing measures, the states are reneging on the wolf
conservation plans they agreed to, and the Service has a duty now to step
back in and hold them accountable.”

"Wolves in Wyoming continue to face persecution year-round with entire
packs being killed. Further, there is little hope for any genetic
interchange between wolves as any dispersing individuals face a firing
squad in all directions.” said Kristen Combs, Executive Director of Wyoming
Wildlife Advocates. "The level of killing is unsustainable and is
unparalleled in how we treat any other species. Protections are needed
until states can figure out how to set aside their cultural hatred and
unethical killing methods and let wolves be the contributors to ecosystems
they were meant to be.”

“We have a bumper sticker on our Boise fridge that states, “Idaho – The
Wilderness State.” said Natasha Dolezal, Deputy Director, Center for a
Humane Economy. “Sadly, what is happening in Idaho is antithetical to the
meaning of wilderness. Our state is made up of 63 percent Federal lands
where most of our wolves live and die, including being slaughtered in their
dens for up to $2,500 per wolf as a bounty. They are not my or Idaho’s
wolves – these wolves are America’s heritage and require Federal protection
immediately.”

List of organizations and individuals signing the petition
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Emergency-Petition-for-Relisting-NRM-Wolves.pdf>
:

International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Western Watersheds Coalition,
WildEarth Guardians, Endangered Species Coalition, Wyoming Untrapped,
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, 06 Legacy, Center for a Humane Economy,
and Rick Lamplugh LLC, author and wildlife advocate, and Nathan Varley,
Co-Owner of the Yellowstone Tracker.
# # #

‌

Communications Manager

he/him

(406) 396-0321 <4063960321>

www.wildearthguardians.org <https://wildearthguardians.org/>
<http://www.facebook.com/wildearthguardians>
<http://www.twitter.com/wildearthguard>
<https://www.instagram.com/wildearthguardians/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bigskynet.org/pipermail/missoula-community-news_bigskynet.org/attachments/20220301/234db5e1/attachment.html>