October 5, 2016 by Maggie Caldwell
The lame duck Congress looks to take a few last swings at wolves on its way out the door.
As the upcoming presidential election consumes our attention, the most anti-wildlife Congress in U.S. history is entering its final stretch and quietly working to pass members’ last pet pieces of legislation. Much of the proposed legislation would have damaging and lasting impacts on America’s wildlife and wild lands. These include measures that could prove devastating to a variety of wolf populations.
Last week, Earthjustice went to court to defend a 2014 victory that ended the state of Wyoming’s extreme anti-wolf management plan. Wyoming had instituted a “kill-on-sight” policy for wolves in more than 80 percent of the state and allowed one wolf-killing loophole after another in the rest. Among the victims of this policy was of one of Yellowstone’s most famous animal celebrities, 832F, the alpha female of the Lamar Canyon pack. The wolf had been hailed as a heroine in the dramatic success story of gray wolves’ return to Yellowstone. She was the subject of podcasts and was featured in a National Geographic TV documentary. When she was killed, The New York Timeswrote what amounted to an obituary for the wolf.
Earthjustice took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to court over the agency’s decision to hand over wolf management to a state with a history of extreme anti-wolf policies—and we won. We expect a decision in Wyoming’s appeal of our victory in the next three to six months. But while the judges deliberate, some members of Congress are trying to bypass the legal process by using legislative edict to remove wolves in Wyoming and three western Great Lakes states from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Measures like the Wyoming-western Great Lakes wolf delisting threat are appearing as legislative “riders” tacked onto must-pass government spending bills and other large pieces of legislation. Another rider would block the act’s protections for Mexican gray wolves, despite the fact that there are fewer than 100 of these highly imperiled animals left in the United States. And yet another rider would delist all gray wolves in the entire lower 48 states—despite the fact that wolves currently occupy just a small portion of their former U.S. range. These and other anti-environmental riders will be considered as part of negotiations between both political parties and the White House over how to keep the federal government funded beyond early December.
Earthjustice continues our fight in the courtroom on behalf of wolves, and you can helpgive this incredible species the chance it deserves by urging President Obama to reject any legislation that includes deadly provisions for wolves.
TAKE ACTION! Protect Wolves and the Endangered Species Act!
ABOUT THIS SERIES
2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the reintroduction of gray wolves to the northern Rockies, and since that time wolves have been under nearly constant threat of losing their protections. The Weekly Howl provides insights and education about the gray wolf and updates on the status of its protections while celeSourcebrating the iconic species as a vital part of a functioning, healthy ecosystem. Posts ran through the summer of 2015 and resumed in the fall of 2016.
Wolf Is My Soul 
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine and commented:
It seems the MO for this congress “let’s see what we can destroy”
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True. I fear what disasters Trump can create, if he wins. The whole world is watching what the results will be, with silent anticipation…
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True I fear what a win by Trump say about this country
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Reblogged this on Kate McClelland.
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Thank you for the reblog!
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The pack is made up of five adults—two males and three females—and a male pup of one year. It is he who has discovered the prey. He had been playing and wandered a little too far afield when he suddenly sensed something new, a scent he had never encountered before. His instincts told him that he should inform his family right away.
He joyfully runs back to the adults, barking his good news. The alpha male stands from his bed in the snow and raises his muzzle into the air. His nose twitches a few times and he senses the game . . . as the pup had. Unlike the pup, he knows what they are. He has encountered their species before. They go about on only two legs; they are slow moving, but at the same time, they are very dangerous. However, deprivation dictates that he start the hunt. He does not have to bark out his commands. He starts off in the direction of the two-legged prey and his pack obediently follows.
They move in unison, intent on their purpose, except for the pup. He dances and prances around the others, letting them know that it was he who had found the prey. It is because of him that their long night of hunger has come to an end. — From Resolution: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure
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Wow! I haven’t read this book, but now I just have to. Thanks!
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The people who kill wolves don’t realise, or care, that so many people oppose what they are doing.
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Sad, but true. I have tried to reason with a hunter but he just wouldn’t listen at all.
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