Gray wolf hunts planned after de-listing

[PylesMalfunction]

Source: Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho - Good news for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains: They no longer need federal protection. The bad news for the animals? Plans are already in the works to hunt them.

Federal Endangered Species Act protection of the wolves was lifted Friday in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, giving those states management of the estimated 1,500 gray wolves in the region.

Even though environmentalists plan to sue the federal government next month to restore wolf protections, hunts are already being scheduled by state wildlife agencies to reduce the wolf population to between 900 and 1,250.

Idaho hunters will be allowed to kill between 100-300 of the animals this fall under a plan approved by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The hunts are partly in response to increasing numbers of livestock being killed as the predators' population has grown.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23856723/

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This is the part that really gets me:
Wildlife biologists estimate there are now 41 breeding pairs in Idaho, in 72 packs. If that number falls below 10 breeding pairs, or 15 during a three-year period, the wolves could be brought back under federal protection.

That seems ridiculously low. Ranchers already had the ability to deal with nuisance wolves so the idea that they're holding these hunts just to help ranchers out is BS.

[mitchtv]

1. God forbid the ranchers hire some one to

care for their livestock, or buy a few Great Pyrenees. I suspect most of the complainers are leasing federal land, and they should be requiresd to maintain the ecosystem, not sterilize it.

[Lorien]

2. Yes, complete BS. Once again, BushCo ignores science

The profound impact on the environment 50 years after wolves were exterminated from much of the West is only now being fully understood. Species from elk to foxes to Aspens to salmon-even micro organisms-have suffered because of the loss of wolves. Coyote populations have exploded and are spreading into whole new territories. Absolutely NO GOOD can come from further reducing wolf populations.

It's amazing to me that people who claim to believe in "GOD" think that their God got it all wrong when it comes to nature. Humanity is arrogant and ignorant enough to believe that every ecosystem must be "managed" by our species, when in truth every ecosystem thrives far better without our meddling. If humanity ever does grasp this concept I think that it will be far too late to save much of anything. :-(

[bean fidhleir]

21. "God" is only ever brought in to justify what the bringer wants

Has it ever been otherwise, anywhere?

[Kajsa]

3. It sure is BS.

Just one more species delisted and ready for slaughter!

-- Thanks so much, Bushco!

Dear God, how many species will be delisted by January 2009?

:(

[mikehiggins]

4. Since humans are already "delisted", why should this surprise?n/t

[Kajsa]

6. Good point, Mike!

Excellent point!

:)

[NeoConsSuck]

5. With a Governor like "Butch"

this was expected:

Idaho rancher-turned-politician "Butch" Otter, has opposed having wolves in the state since the federal government started talking about reintroducing them 15 years ago. Now Otter is Idaho's new governor, and the federal government is on the verge of taking the gray wolf off the endangered species list in the Northern Rockies.

Otter says he's looking forward to that day. In fact, he told a crowd of sportsmen that he's planning to bid for the first ticket to shoot a wolf. And he advocates using hunting to cut the number of wolf packs in the state from 70 to 10.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6854157

[Glorfindel]

7. "The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable. " -Oscar Wilde

He was talking about fox hunters, but it applies even better to this Otter creature. May he shoot himself in the foot!

[southerncrone]

13. Better yet, may he hunt w/Cheney!

How much ya bet Darth will be out in full regalia "gettin' him a wolf" for the den in his cave?

Neocons are predators themselves. Wish THEY were an endangered species.

[gorfle]

16. I agree.

I'm an avid shooter, and sometime hunter. I don't hunt much because, frankly, it is too much work. But I don't have a problem with hunting for food. All meat, whether you buy it at the grocery store or take it out of the woods, is killed, and I think dying in your natural habitat is preferable to railroading through a slaughterhouse.

But I can't understand hunting animals for the pure "enjoyment" of killing something, and hunting wolves fits that bill to me. Same thing for most of the "African Safari" type hunts. These people aren't hunting for meat - they're hunting for the thrill of killing an unusual animal - they are killing for pleasure. This is disgusting.

[frebrd]

8. The Bushies are steadily checking things

off their to-do list of things about this country they want to destroy before they leave. They still have almost ten months to work at it.

:grr:

[StClone]

9. Yee HAAA! I am sick

Of hunting Cranes

Swans

and those damn Mourning Doves

[Maestro]

10. Those pics are sickening as I am one

who loves to take aim at birds with my lens.

For example, the highly endangered whooping crane.



and



Those *ucks in the pic are going to do what with those geese and sandhill crane? Eat it? I doubt it.

To shoot an animal than for no other reason than to just put another notch into the butt of your gun is inhumane and despicable. The grey wolves are majestic creatures who have its place in the environment. Setting them up for sport hunts is reprehensible.

[StClone]

17. Guess what

I now have Whoopers nesting within an hour of my home and Kirtland's Warblers too. BTW those weren't geese they were Tundra Swans. It is an irony that dies on these dopes that birds that symbolize love and peace (swans, doves) are hunted for pleasure. Do you think that the Blackwater guys need a bigger rush by hunting people...Cheney blasting an attorney was a Freudian slip in that regard.

[Maestro]

18. Tundra Swans, very nice.

:sarcasm: That is really neat about the Kirtland's. I hope no neo-con's kid with a BB gun gets close to that one.

[MasonJar]

11. have I said lately how much I despise everything Bushian? I also

despise grown "sub-humans" who cannot wait to go out and shoot some defenseless fellow inhabitant of the planet. It is disgraceful. Hey, Idaho DUers, cannot you do something to stop this cruelty?

[Omaha Steve]

12. 2009 Defenders Calendar Vote

http://www.defenders.org/index.php

[PylesMalfunction]

14. As someone who eats meat....

I have no issue with hunters who use the animals they hunt - that may be eating them (and animals in the wild lead a far better life that CAFO beef, chicken or pork) or using the hide or fur (but if it's fur you better live somewhere fucking cold and shoot rather than trap your animal). I also don't have an issue with real scientists determining hunting limits. Deer populations gets out of control (usually because we've killed all the predators) and dying from a bullet is far more humane than starving to death.

I do have a problem with humans who try to manipulate the eco-system. Example - hybrid stripers (a fish that's sterile) are stocked in our lakes in TN. People love to fish for them because they're big and they fight - I've caught a few trying to catch other types of fish. However they're a huge fish that's a top level predator fish that's not native to our area. TWRA (our wildlife agency) swears up and down that they don't affect other fish. Bullshit. If you talk to anyone that's fished for panfish in our area for years, they'll tell you that in all the lakes that have introduced stripers in those lakes - the fishing for panfish sucks now. My boyfriend used to catch all kinds of bluegill in Cherokee lake and since stripers have been introduced, the fishing sucks for them. :( As someone who'd rather eat local and not eat fish that are being shipped and fished out of existence from the ocean, it's so frustrating. Once again - sport fishing and hunting trumps actual food production. :mad:

And then you have BushCo who don't use real scientists at all - they just listen to industry.

[yorkiemommie1]

15. this will make my BushBot friend furious

because she's such an advocate for the wolves and yet voted for *.

[Kingofalldems]

19. I bet the gun hicks are already lining up

for the big shoot.

[totodeinhere]

20. It seems that these goons want to put the wolves right back on the...

Federal Endangered Species list. It just doesn't make any sense to slaughter these beautiful animals. And using livestock as an excuse just doesn't cut it. There are humane ways to prevent the wolves from killing livestock.