America’s wolves are facing a grave new threat.
Senators Baucus and Tester of Montana have introduced legislation that would strip wolves of their endangered species protection in both Montana and Idaho.
The bill would lead to open season on wolves. Idaho Gov. Otter says he won’t allow a dime of state money to be spent safeguarding Idaho’s wolves. He announced that Idaho won’t do biological surveys, won’t investigate illegal kills and won’t go after poachers.
In August, a District Court judge in Montana ordered that wolves be put back on the Endangered Species List in Idaho and Montana after the Interior department had lifted protections in those states and let them manage wolf populations on their own.
News reports this week say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is supporting federal legislation that would exempt endangered gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains from Endangered Species Act protections.
Further, Congress could exempt these wolves from the Act and its protections, without public hearings, before the end of the year. But science shows that gray wolves in the northern Rockies haven’t yet recovered, and this blatantly political move goes against the whole intent of the Endangered Species Act.
The Baucus-Tester bill could be attached to a spending bill and voted on in the next two weeks–without public hearings or debate, according to the NRDC.
Please call your two senators immediately and express your strong opposition to this measure.
Click here to get the simple information you need to place those two calls. It will take only a few minutes of your time but could help spell the difference between life and death for wolves across the Northern Rockies.
Do NOT assume that your senators will defend wolves because they are pro-wildlife or pro-environment. Many such senators will be under tremendous pressure to support this measure if it is attached to the government spending bill.
Tell your senators to protect wolves by opposing the Baucus-Tester bill (S.3864) and any attempt to attach it to a spending bill.
This bill is a blatant attempt to bypass court orders and good science, which say that wolves should remain on the Endangered Species List, protected from mass killing, until they’re fully recovered.
Congress has never before removed an animal from the Endangered Species List. The Baucus-Tester bill will not only lead to the killing of wolves, it will set a terrible precedent, opening the door for special-interest groups to push other inconvenient species off the list.
The bill would undercut one of the primary reasons for the Act, which was to relieve Congress of the impossible task of legislating protections species by species and leave the final determination to scientists and wildlife management professionals.
Please stand up for wolves by calling your senators today!
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Delisting will not mean “open season” on wolves. Where did you get that information? Delisting would mean the states would protect wolves just like they do any other game animal.
Delisting means wolves will be suppressed to populations so low that genetic diversity will be lost. When populations begin to crash, the proposed law will still prevent any federal protection. Leadership in these states leans heavily to agricultural interests and they hate and fear wolves. Thousands will die.
It also means that any ‘incovenient’ species can be de-listed. Read that to mean most of the carnivores that are in trouble and other creatures that get in the way of development or some other commercial venture.
In short, this not only threatens wolves, but the integity of the endagered species act itself along with the conservation legacy that does our country proud.