Breaking News: Bush Administration to Announce Wolf Delisting Tomorrow 2-21-08

[Kolesar]

Breaking News: Bush Administration to Announce Wolf Delisting Tomorrow

Here is the letter I received from www.defenders.org , the Defenders of Wildlife

Dear Boreal Avenger,

As soon as tomorrow, Interior Secretary Kempthorne is expected to
announce the elimination of federal protections for hundreds of
endangered wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.

Please take a moment right now to call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service at 1-800-344-WILD (9453) and deliver this simple message:

"My name is The Boreal Avenger
and I'm calling from Gotham,
Ohio. I understand that the
federal government may remove wolves in the Greater Yellowstone and
Central Idaho regions tomorrow from the list of federally protected
threatened and endangered species.

I want your department to know that I strongly oppose the weakening of
protections for these wolves and expect you to fulfill your obligation
to secure a lasting future in the Northern Rockies for these amazing
animals."

The lives of hundreds of wolves are at stake. Please call tonight
before 8 PM Eastern Time or first thing tomorrow morning.

In a matter of hours, newspapers across the country could be reporting
on the Bush/Cheney Administration's expected announcement ... and
its potentially devastating impact on some of America's most
beloved wolves.

But today I need your help to let these federal officials know that
Americans love our wolves and want to see them protected.

Please call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at
1-800-344-WILD (9453) and speak out for our wolves. Leave a message if you can,
and remember to let us know that you called.

http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=TKygaJBd4j5wZynwt39ycg..

Respectfully,

Rodger Signature

Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife

P.S. Stay tuned tomorrow for more details on this breaking news and
Defenders of Wildlife's action plan to save these wolves...

........I wrote a letter using some of their ideas and some of my own...........

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=943&s_einterest=C3C4&s_Affiliate=savewolves_

I am a vacationer, a wildlife lover, and a citizen of the United States of America. I would like to express my strongest support for protection of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem and Northern Rockies region.

The wildlife professionals who work for your agency have worked on wolf programs for a long time. Please consult with them for good direction on how to manage the wolf program.

It is blithely deceptive to say that a wolf population that has grown to a population of about one hundred is a sustainable population that should have its endangered species protection removed. That idea is absurd. I have been following this issue for a while and I think that Bush administration plans reveal a crass and barbaric agenda to score cheap political points with a small minority of the population of two small states. I am disgusted.

As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone who cares about wolf recovery in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Rockies region, I am deeply disturbed and outraged with your agency's rule change that makes it easier to kill wolves in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana -- even while these wolves are supposed to remain protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Recent changes to the Endangered Species Act's "10j" rule are a set back for the conservation of wolves and other wildlife in the region, making it easier for officials in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to kill wolves just for being wolves.

The states would only need to prove that wolves are a "major cause" of the inability of elk and deer to meet state management goals. Wolves could be killed even if they only have an effect on how elk herds move or behave -- not just if they affect herd numbers.

Meanwhile, these wolves are still listed as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act.

Your department has an obligation to ensure a sustainable population of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. Making it easier to kill wolves in the region, especially while they remain an endangered species makes no sense.

I strongly urge you to reconsider the "10j" rule change for Idaho, Wyoming and Montana -- and to maintain strong federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies. It is important to me that the wolf population remains robust, now and after delisting.

Thank you for considering my comments.

TBA

[pinto]

1. kick. n/t

[f the letter]

2. Definitely rec'd n/t

[villager]

3. was coming here to post this same outrageous news

glad you got it up here

These really are the most hateful scum ever to capture the gears and wheels of the U.S. government...

[Kolesar]

4. I called 800-344-9453 and waited 15 minutes for someone to take my call

Which shows that people are calling the constituent contact line. I wish we could cull sick republicans.

[villager]

6. well, that would be about all of them.

n/t

[Kolesar]

5. Wolves Lose Protection Under Endangered Species Act--Defenders Press Release

http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/press_releases_folder/2008/02_21_2008_wolves_lose_protection_under_endangered_species_act.php

February 21, 2008

Contact(s) Suzanne Stone, [phone] or [phone]
Mike Leahy, [phone] or [phone]
Erin McCallum, [phone] or [phone]

Premature delisting severely threatens continued existence of the northern Rockies gray wolf

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today the Bush administration finalized its controversial decision to remove the northern Rockies gray wolf from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. The delisting will take effect 30 days after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) publishes the final rule in the Federal Register next week.

The removal of federal protections for the gray wolf puts its continued survival in the northern Rockies at the mercy of the woefully insufficient state management plans developed by Wyoming, Idaho and—to a lesser extent—Montana. These plans call for dramatic reductions in wolf populations in the region.

“We will support delisting of the northern Rockies wolf when the states establish sustainable management plans that ensure viable, interconnected wolf populations throughout the region,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. “Unfortunately, the current state plans seem designed to lead only to the dramatic decline and need for quick relisting of the wolf. That’s not in anyone’s best interest.”

Before a species can be delisted, FWS must determine that it does not face continued threats that could undermine the species’ survival. This criterion is not met under the state management plans which ignore scientific estimates that, for species to remain viable, there should be several thousand individuals, and wolf populations in the northern Rockies must be interconnected with larger wolf populations in Canada. With no federal protections in place, existing state management plans would permit wolf populations in the northern Rockies to be drastically reduced by as much as 70 percent, and eliminate any likelihood of establishing connections with Canadian wolf populations or promoting the establishment of wolf populations in other states such as Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Colorado.

“Given the tremendous public support and resources spent to reintroduce the wolf to the northern Rockies, it makes no sense to allow wholesale killing of wolves in the region and polarize the issue even more deeply with this one-sided plan,” said Suzanne Stone, northern Rockies wolf conservation specialist for Defenders of Wildlife. “Instead we need a balanced solution based on science that also addresses the needs of ranchers, wildlife supporters, and hunters.”

Defenders of Wildlife recently joined with the Natural Resources Defense Council in petitioning FWS to develop a national recovery plan for wolves in the Unites States, with regional recovery goals aimed at supporting sustainable populations of wolves in the northern Rockies, the northeast and the southwest.

Background:
More than 200,000 gray wolves (Canis lupus) once lived throughout the United States. Aggressive wildlife killing campaigns led to wolf eradication from most of the country by the mid-1930s. Gray wolves have been listed as endangered since 1974, and were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho in 1995 and 1996.

Wolves are native to the northern Rockies and have begun once again to restore natural balance to the areas they are reoccupying, by culling weak and diseased elk, deer, and other prey, and dispersing elk more widely across their habitat and away from sensitive wetlands and meadows that suffer from overbrowsing. Elk populations still remain high, (more than 400,000 elk are present today in the region) and hunter harvest success remains as high as it was prior to the return of wolves. Ranchers are also successfully learning to reduce the limited wolf predation on livestock to manageable levels and are compensated for most known losses that do occur by Defenders or state compensation programs. Wolf-related tourism in the Yellowstone region has generated more than $35 million annually for local communities.


Learn more about Defenders' efforts to protect the northern Rockies wolf. http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/wolves/wolf_recovery_efforts/northern_rockies_wolves/management_and_policy/index.php

Read FWS final delisting rule from FWS. http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf/delist_02202008/FR_final%20delist_rule_NRM_DPS_2_15_08_OFR.pdf

Petition to FWS to Develop a National Recovery Plan for Wolves http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/wolf/petition_to_prepare_a_recovery_plan_for_the_gray_wolf.pdf

One more F-you from the pathetic bush administration on their way out.

[Patsy Stone]

7. K&R!

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