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amborin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:16 PM
Original message
Wolves Sacrificed in Spending Bill?
"A must-pass federal spending bill being considered this week would eliminate protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Oregon and Washington.

....Despite all of our hard work in opposition to the elimination of federal protections for wolves – opposition that stopped the last, “lame duck” Congress from removing federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies – it is clear that congressional leadership now intends to include similar language in the current budget bill that funds the government to the end of September.
This is shameful. Not only do these provisions substitute politics for science in the protection of endangered species, but they also have NOTHING to do with the federal budget!

Tell Congress to leave our wolves alone. Send your message now.
The language being considered removes federal protections from wolves (“delists” wolves from the endangered species list) not only in Idaho and Montana... but also in states like Oregon and Washington where the wolf population is only now beginning to get a toehold.

PLEASE immediately email or phone your two senators and member of the House of Representatives at (202)224-3121.

Tell them that it is outrageous that the 2011 budget bill includes a provision that puts politics above science in the protection of endangered species, and demand that they eliminate the non-budget wolf provision from that bill.

I can’t overemphasize how difficult this fight is. The fact that our opposition has buried this provision in a gigantic, “must-pass” bill funding the government makes it VERY hard to reach. But we have to try. Please help -- it is essential that we make our voices heard.
I care about the future of our wolves and I know you do too. Please take a moment right now and lend your voice to our fight to protect these magnificent animals."



http://www.defenders.org/index_v2.html
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Logical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:24 PM
Response to Original message
1. Spend money on people or animals? n-t
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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 08:45 PM
Response to Reply #1
14. The wolves are being shot. How is that saving jobs?
Rich assholes are now allowed to shoot wolves from helicopters. Remember when we were disgusted with Sarah Palin because of that? I guess it's ok now that Democrats are doing it.
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Logical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 09:09 PM
Response to Reply #14
18. I love animals but people are starving. I will spend on animals when no one is starving! n-t
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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-13-11 09:35 AM
Response to Reply #18
21. Nobody is asking you to spend anything on wolves. Why do they have to be killed for sport?
This is a false equivalency.
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damntexdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:26 PM
Response to Original message
2. Humans are sacrificed in the "spending" bill.
Screw the fucking wolves.
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joeybee12 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:59 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. No, screw those who say screw the wolves...nt
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Auntie Bush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 03:13 PM
Response to Reply #2
9. Now thousands of wolves and their pups will be shot and killed!
and it will save the government nothing...except future bribes.

We're not going out and shooting women...there's not much comparison.
Show a little compassion for some lives.
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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 08:45 PM
Response to Reply #2
15. Because murdering wolves will make it all better for the people. Right.
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livvy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:37 PM
Response to Original message
3. The point here, no matter what your view of wolves is...
What the hell does removing the species from protection have to do with the budget? How does removing this animal save any money, and if there is any savings, how miniscule that savings must be in comparison to the debt.
It has no place in this bill.
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truebrit71 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:51 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Exactly right!
Answer: there are no 'savings' this is just a bullshit way to do an end-run around the ESA and it utterly depicable...
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Drahthaardogs Donating Member (482 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 04:50 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. Having spent many years in wolf country
My guess is landowner compensation for depredation of livestock by wolves. It might also affect government APHIS agents from removing wolves that are a habitual problem to humans or livestock.
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livvy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 08:43 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. I've been trying to find the rationale for this to be a part of the budget bill.
So far this is what I've been able to find. I still believe this has little to do with the federal budget, and should not be a part of this bill.

Under pressure from ranching interests in Montana and Idaho, as well as anti-wolf zealots in those states, Reid and Obama agreed to accept an amendment from Montana Democrat Jon Tester mandating the removal of grey wolves in Idaho and Montana from the endangered species list. For Obama, at least, the move isn't surprising: his administration backed the Bush administration's delisting of wolves even though it would allow the two massive states to cut wolf populations to as few as 450 individuals between them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-hurowitz/endangered-wolves-sacrifi_b_847673.html



Sportsmen and ranchers, who make up a powerful constituency in Western states, have strongly advocated de-listing wolves and grizzlies, saying the predators are diminishing herds of big-game animals such as elk and are preying on livestock.

snip

De-listing means states would assume management of the estimated 1,700 wolves in the Northern Rockies - about 1,000 more than the federal recovery goal for the species.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/04/AR2010120403767.html



Montana hunters appear to have been more successful in their bid to influence the legislation.

Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, said the budget bill included his proposal to remove gray wolves in Montana and Idaho from the federal list of endangered species. This would enable the two states to manage their wolf populations and to allow hunting of the animals if they choose.

“This wolf fix isn’t about one party’s agenda,” Mr. Tester said. “It’s about what’s right for Montana and the West.”

Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee, had urged Mr. Obama to remove the gray wolf from the list as part of any budget agreement.

“Montanans don’t need D.C. bureaucrats telling us how to manage wolves in our state,” Mr. Baucus said.

snip

Montana officials want to conduct a regulated hunt of wolves, which prey on elk and other big game in the western part of the state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/us/11budget.html


Ranchers have been compensated for livestock losses in the past by Defenders, but changes in compensation are being considered by the state (at least in Oregon), so Defenders has discontinued payments.

http://oregoncapitolnews.com/blog/2011/04/06/compensation-for-losses-caused-by-wolves-hangs-in-the-balance/

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter is asking the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior to allow a wolf hunt this year and to have federal money pay for the cost of managing wolves in Idaho.

Otter sent a proposed memorandum of agreement (MOA) to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar outlining how the state and federal government would work together on wolves. The state lost its authority to manage wolves in an Aug. 5 court decision that put gray wolves back on the endangered species list.

In a letter attached to the new MOA, Otter told Salazar that delisting wolves remains a goal, but that until then, the federal government should cover the costs of managing wolves.

http://www.idahoreporter.com/2010/otters-latest-wolf-letter-to-feds-asks-for-hunting-less-cost-to-sportsmen/


The only budget issue I was able to find was this article, but I was not able to find any reference to what actual savings would be. Obviously any costs to manage wolf populations will be shifted to the states, which is part of the reason for removing the wolf from federal protection. The states don't have the legal option to manage federally protected species. I believe the main reason is by removing the wolf from federal protection, it gives the states the right to do what they want with their wolf populations. For some states the costs I would think would be very minimal, as there would be little actual environmentally friendly management of the populations by the state. Instead, the populations would be decimated by hunting, trapping, etc.

Minnesota officials were stunned to learn this week that among budget cuts made recently by Congress was funding for the federal wolf-control program in Minnesota.

The program, under which federal trappers trap and kill wolves that attack or threaten livestock and pets, has been eliminated. Federal trappers were on the job Tuesday, but could be pulled out of the field at any time, officials said.

That would essentially eliminate wolf management in the state because the wolf remains protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The state Department of Natural Resources can't legally deal with problem wolves.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/119712379.html

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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 08:47 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. Wolves don't prey on livestock or big game very often. They usually eat rodents.
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amborin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-13-11 05:21 AM
Response to Reply #13
20. thanks for posting all that info!
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MineralMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:42 PM
Response to Original message
4. Proportion, please.
Wolves...women's health...which budget should I cut? Hmm...
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joeybee12 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 03:00 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. Maybe none of it, maybe making an argument that cutting any of it is wrong...
and won't solve anything.
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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 08:46 PM
Response to Reply #4
16. Maybe we could raise the billionaires' taxes a little bit and keep both wolves and women's health.
In any case, how much money will killing wolves save? Why do they have to be murdered?
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livvy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 09:19 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. Here! Here! Sounds like a plan to me! nt
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sasha031 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 02:56 PM
Response to Original message
6. thank you so much for posting, I have supported Defenders for years
Edited on Tue Apr-12-11 03:05 PM by sasha031
also called my Senators and Congressman also forwarding this message.

:hi: :thumbsup:
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Tyrs WolfDaemon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 03:26 PM
Response to Original message
10. These people are evil
May Odin's wolves, Geri and Freki, torment these people for the rest of their lives and then into the afterlife.

They can then be fed to the Fenrir after which they will become the sh*ts they truly are.









There are days when I think the human race is ok, unfortunately the number of days in which that occurs is steadily dropping.

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Karmadillo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-11 04:32 PM
Response to Original message
11. Kick
nt
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