Humane Society of United States files gray wolf lawsuit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Source: Petoskey News
Humane Society of United States files gray wolf lawsuit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Morgan Sherburne (231) 439-9394 - msherburne@petoskeynews.com
8:57 a.m. EST, February 13, 2013
The Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against Michigan and two other Great Lakes states, calling for protection of the gray wolf in all three states.
"Plaintiffs, animal protection and conservation organizations, challenge the decision of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to strip gray wolves in the Great Lakes region of protection under the Endangered Species Act," says the opening of the lawsuit document.
Too, the lawsuit objects to the gray wolf's delisting because it says the Endangered Species Act requires protection for a species that is endangered throughout its historic range. Currently, the gray wolf is present "across just five percent of its historic range," says the lawsuit.
But organizations that support the wolves' delisting and a potential hunt of the wolf say populations are healthy, particularly across the three states named in the lawsuit.
..more..
Read more: http://www.petoskeynews.com/news/featured/pnr-humane-society-of-united-states-files-gray-wolf-lawsuit-against-us-fish-and-wildlife-service-20130213,0,4385370.story
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)Here's hoping that now Ken "The Wolf Killing Rancher" Salazar is being shown the door his replacement will listen to scientists rather than small-dicked hunters and re-list the Gray Wolf...
Beringia
(4,314 posts)More power to them.
Tyrs WolfDaemon
(2,289 posts)They won't be happy until all my wolf brethren are murdered.
I pray that those wolves taken by those hunters and ranchers find their way across BriFrost to join our brethren in the Wild Hunt.
I despise those people.
Unfortunately almost all of them don't or won't understand (a good number probably don't care) what they are doing to nature.
To them wolves are evil, climate change is a liberal hoax, evolution is a tool of Satan and on and on and on...
Hopefully we can get wolves re-listed. That alone isn't enough, but it is a step.
catbyte
(34,174 posts)the minute a creature is taken off the Endangered Species List, some shithead wants to start blasting away. Gray wolves are sacred. They are our brothers.
We must stop them.
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)for your talking points. And thank you for the petition. I live in Montana, one of my DINO Senators wrote the damned rider that got slipped into the must pass Budget Bill that removed the wolves from the ESA list. I am so pissed about the whole thing after having worked to get them reintroduced out here.
Check this out, this text was presented in Bozeman earlier this week...
What real public information about wolves looks like
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2013/02/10/what-real-public-information-about-wolves-looks-like/
catbyte
(34,174 posts)Mr. Bishop is awesome, known him for many years now, he'll call you out on any misinformation on anything wildlife or environment related. But he's an amazingly wonderful soul. Please feel free to pass that around, we need more people to know the truth... as supported by science.
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)I live outside of Michigan so I won't be meeting any petition signers.
---
found press release:
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2013/02/wildlife-protection-groups-great-lakes-wolves-suit-021213.html
life long demo
(1,113 posts)I am another one that has despaired over the treatment of wolves. I have never seen one in the wild but I don't need to, just knowing they were there living free is as they should be. So when they were removed from the ESA, it was a kick in the gut. I hope my donation to the HSUS helped a little with the lawsuit. But it's those in Wyoming and Montana that need a lot of help.
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)wildlife hating miscreants!
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/12/19/193-idaho-wolves-killed-since-april-1st/
G_j
(40,366 posts)generally, I cannot seem to generate much interest on DU for the wolves.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/01/11/podium-wolves/NomNekRbtLlMcR5wNq6uTJ/story.html
1,688 wolves killed (as of Jan.)
Stop the slaughter of wolves
By Virginia Fuller | JANUARY 11, 2013
The delisting of the wolf in many states more than a year ago has resulted in 872 deaths and a threat to wildlife management, warns Virginia Fuller, former president of New England Wildlife Center.
<snip>
Up against the lust to kill, this caveat counts for nothing. In the most recent hunt, 872 wolves were killed: 121 in Idaho; 102 in Montana 102; 43 in Wyoming; 26 in Predator Zone; 117 in Wisconsin; and 407 in Minnesota. And the hunting season still continues in Idaho and Montana.
Beyond those stark figures are more disturbing facts. One is the imbalance between the importance of the wolf in its role as predator and the power of the rancher who grazes his herds on the publics land. In Washington State, a particularly upsetting event occurred. Despite the fact that ranchers are compensated by the state for apparent wolf predation, nevertheless two members of the Wedge pack, first to arrive in the area since wolves were eradicated decades ago, were gunned down after reportedly preying on cattle.
<snip>
http://m.startribune.com/?id=185560681
Wolf season closes with more than 400 wolves killed
Hunters had registered 405 wolves by Thursday afternoon. Department of Natural Resources officials arent concerned that the target quota was exceeded.
Blog post by: Doug Smith
~~
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/viewart/20130110/NEWS01/301100027/Montana-FWP-proposes-expansion-wolf-hunting-trapping
Montana FWP proposes expansion of wolf hunting, trapping
HELENA State wildlife officials planned to ask lawmakers Thursday to make it easier to hunt and trap wolves in Montana, while a Bozeman legislator wants to cap the states population of the predators at 250.
The House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee was to take up both proposals as the wolf debate takes the spotlight in the first week of the 2013 legislative session.
Ranchers and hunters have called for an expansion of hunting and more liberal rules after 166 wolves were killed out of the 220-animal quota set for 2011, the states second-ever wolf hunt. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials responded by making the 2012 season longer, eliminating most quotas and allowing trapping for the first time.
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infidel dog
(273 posts)truebrit71
(20,805 posts)2naSalit
(86,061 posts)I know I keep using posts from this wildlife blog but it's a great source of info:
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/12/19/193-idaho-wolves-killed-since-april-1st/
Another good site for info:
http://wolfwatcher.org/
Merely for those seeking more info...
great sources for information!
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)you want refs, I've got 'em.
G_j
(40,366 posts)2naSalit
(86,061 posts)Unfortunately, all the other orgs don't get much recognition and sometimes they get a lot more done than Defenders does. But everyone is needed, included people who are unaffiliated with any group, to voice the fact that they value these animals (all wildlife for that matter) and that they WANT them to be numerous in viable habitat. They regulate their numbers without help from humans so none of this alleged "management" is necessary at all.
Thank you so very much for your efforts, the petition, and posting this here!
2na
ZM90
(706 posts)My cousin actually had a wolf dog at one point, and I really loved the dog, she was such a good wolf dog. My cousin got rid of her when she was a pup but luckily she went to be with a family that we knew could take care of her, a family that had raised wolf dogs.
red dog 1
(27,648 posts)Kudos to the Humane Society of the United States for filing this lawsuit.
Wolves are being slaughtered in many states, including Idaho, where Republican Governor Butch Otter is gassing wolf pups & their mothers in their dens, as well as shooting them from helicopters.
This creep Otter also wants to issue 70,000 permits to kill Grey Wolves, despite the fact that only a few hundred Grey Wolves are left in Idaho
there is a petition to President Obama to stop the Idaho wolf slaughter.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-idaho-wolves/
life long demo
(1,113 posts)red dog 1
(27,648 posts)thank you! here is another,
Take Action Now!
The Interior Department has stripped Wyoming's wolves of their endangered species protection, leaving them at the mercy of a state management plan that allows them to be shot on sight across most of the state. Tell Secretary Salazar to call off the guns by returning these wolves to the endangered species list until Wyoming presents a credible plan for protecting them!
Help End the Slaughter of Wyoming's Wolves!
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/wild-things/
~~~
WILD THINGS: A film about the war on native carnivores
Many ranchers are rejecting the old practice of killing large carnivores to protect livestock. Instead, they are increasingly using new technology and old methods of animal husbandry to coexist with carnivores.
Native carnivores bring balance to the landscape and keep ecosystems healthy. But they can also be seen as a threat to livestock, and for decades government trappers have killed them in large numbers. The U.S.D.A.'s Wildlife Services program kills tens of thousands of native carnivores annually, often at the demand of the ranching industry. It is a battle against nature that is costly, brutal, and not very effective. Does the battle really need to be fought? Wild Things introduces audiences to progressive ranchers learning to coexist with these animals and features scientists, conservationists and even former Wildlife Services trappers, who believe it is time for a major change in the way we treat our magnificent native carnivores.
Watch the trailer:
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/wild-things/
red dog 1
(27,648 posts)truebrit71
(20,805 posts)red dog 1
(27,648 posts)G_j
(40,366 posts)Let Montana Governor Bullock know: Our Voice Counts, Too!
http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/let-montana-governor-bullock-know-our-voice-counts-too/
Feb 10th, 2013
Posted in: All News, Front Page News, News, North American Wolves News, Northern Rockies News, Take Action, WolfWatcherYellowstone Wolf Project biologists are speaking out about a record number of wolves that were lost to this years hunting season in an article, YNP biologists struggle to maintain wolf research, published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Feb. 9, 2013.
This is the first year that wolves were hunted on every side of the park. Theyve learned to tolerate people in the park, but that gets them in trouble if they leave. Some wandered outside the park, and within six hours, they were dead
The park has an international constituency and our mission is preservation. The kills are a big hit on our research, but another big concern for us is that too many kills affect visitor enjoyment, said YNP wolf biologist Doug Smith.
More state bills have been introduced seeking to reduce the wolf populations with even more aggressive management tools that make it easier to hunt and trap more wolves even in areas near Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. House Bill 73 has been fast-tracked to the Governors office, too.
Yellowstone National Park is posting record attendance numbers a 2% increase to 3.4 million visitors in 2012. With a projected 65 million international visitors to the USA in 2012 and more in 2013, Yellowstone National Park is the largest international draw in the Northern Rockies region. With three of the five gateways accessed through Montana, the state serves to benefit from this increased traffic.
We heard that Montanas Governors Office is disregarding calls and emails from tourists. Interestingly, the North Entrance at Gardiner, the area where zone closures were recently proposed and denied near Yellowstone , suffered a 5% loss in visitors in 2012.
We conclude that potential tourists are turned off when they learn about more aggressive hunting and trapping practices in the state. So, is Montana killing the largest growing industry in the region eco/wildlife tourism along with this apex predator? We think so!
Its time for us to remind Governor Bullock that our tourism dollars affect the economic future of his state and our voice counts! We ask that you call the following officials to tell them you oppose the bill because it is anti-science, anti-eco-tourism, and anti-jobs!
1 Montana Governor Bullock: tell him to VETO HB 73
Telephone: Toll Free Number: 855-318-1330; Montana: 406-444-3111
governor@mt.gov and http://governor.mt.gov/contact.aspx
2 Gov. Bullocks Natural Resources Adviser, Tim Baker: tbaker@mt.gov and 406-444-7857
3 Montana Office of Tourism mt-webmaster@visitmt.com Phone: 1-406-841-2870
4 Montanas Official Travel Site http://www.visitmt.com/feedback/ or call 1-800-847-4868
REFERENCE:
House Bill 73 introduced at the request of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to increase the tools available to hunters to successfully kill more wolf populations (http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billpdf/HB0073.pdf)
Reduces the price of nonresident licenses REDUCING THE PRICE OF A NONRESIDENT LICENSE;
Allows use of recorded or electronically amplified calls in wolf hunting; ALLOWING USE OF RECORDED OR ELECTRONICALLY AMPLIFIED CALLS;
Exempts hunters from wearing orange outside the general deer and elk hunting season
Prevents the creation of wolf harvest buffer zones and wolf harvest closures around national parks; In an area immediately adjacent to a national park, the commission may not: prohibit the hunting or trapping of wolves; or close the area to wolf hunting or trapping unless a wolf harvest quota established by the commission for that area has been met.
red dog 1
(27,648 posts)UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)Where is our president on this issue?
G_j
(40,366 posts)as Secretary of the Interior and Salazar delisted wolves from the endangered list.
life long demo
(1,113 posts)Jon Tester from Montana with his re-election. I have been angry about this issue for a long time. I had even contemplated not voting for Pres. Obama because of this, but relented and voted for him. But I'm still angry. So thank you everyone from me for caring about the wolves.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)to put Polar Bears on the endangered Species list and now they can drll in the Arctic refuge.
I just hope Sally Jewell, the new Secretary will call an end to the killing and drilling which are making me sick to my stomach. I donate regularly to the Wildlife groups and sign all their petitions which I receive daily in my email.
I'm glad to see so many others here are just as disturbed by the killing. Thanks for this post!
G_j
(40,366 posts)appointment that makes me scratch my head:
Jewell is the president and chief executive officer at the outdoors company Recreational Equipment, Inc., known as REI, which sells clothing and gear for outdoor adventures with more than 100 stores across the country. Prior to joining REI in 2000, Jewell worked in commercial banking and as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corporation.
G_j
(40,366 posts)<snip>
Jewells selection drew quick support from conservation groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as Congressional Democrats. Even oil and gas companieswhich remain convinced that the Obama Administration is dead set against fossil fuels, despite the boon in domestic oil and gas production over the past few yearsseem relatively positive about Jewell, thanks to her background in the petroleum industry. Republicans grumbled, as they do, but with a Democratic advantage in the Senate, its hard to see Jewell missing out on confirmation.
(MORE: The U.S. Will Be an Oil Giant Again. But It Wont Be Energy Independent)
Still, the confirmation hearings should be interesting if only to reveal what Jewells views on conservation and energy development really are. Unlike Salazarwho had been in the Senate for four years before becoming Interior SecretaryJewell is a relative unknown, as Stephen Brown of the petroleum refining company Tesoro told POLITICO:
Salzar was a known entity in Washington, D.C., with his own political base of operations here as well as in Colorado Ms Jewell is not a political creature, relatively unknown on the Hill, and any power or influence may have is completely derivative of the Presidenthence, the White House staff will be running the show.
<snip>
(Fingers crossed!)
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)cross our toes too.
Obama now seems more environmentally friendly, so I have to hope he'd pick someone he trusted to protect the environment...so much depends on that!
ailsagirl
(22,842 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)UtahLib
(3,179 posts)Last edited Thu Feb 14, 2013, 02:50 AM - Edit history (1)
As of this post, the first petition, which requires 150,000 signatures, had a mere fraction of that number. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video that accompanied the first petition. This can be such a heart breaking subject that many may not want to be involved. Even so, I wonder how we might encourage more at DU to at least sign the petitions?
Thank you for the OP and I applaud you for your tireless efforts on behalf of these wonderful and most misunderstood and maligned creatures.
edited to add: I would like to suggest having a DU Wolf avatar added to selections.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)I do not want fringe groups managing state wildlife. We have real scientists with jobs to do
G_j
(40,366 posts)<snip>
The ranching industry in the American West has been the historic enemy of wolves, so it was fitting that ranchers in Montana and Idaho called for hunting them almost from the moment of their reintroduction. The American Farm Bureau Federation, a nonprofit advocate for farming and ranching interests, had even sued preemptively in 1994 to stop the reintroduction, but a federal court rejected the suit. In 2008, however, Western livestock interests found a sympathetic ear in the Bush administrations Department of the Interior, which issued what would become the first of multiple orders to remove the wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Following a lawsuit filed by 12 conservation groups that challenged the decision, the U.S. District Court in Montana found that the department had acted arbitrarily in delisting the wolf and reinstated the acts protections. Judge Donald Molloy pointed to a glaring discrepancy: Biologists had determined that only with the genetic commingling of the three distinct population segments of wolvesin central Idaho, Yellowstone National Park, and northwestern Montanawould the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf have a chance at long-term survival. A 2009 study in BioScience magazine concluded that absent this genetic exchange, the population would be genetically depleted, small, and ineffective in terms of ecosystem function. The Interior Departments own environmental impact study, conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, had come to the same conclusion. Yet the department had removed the Endangered Species Act protections without any evidence of genetic exchange, wrote Judge Molloy, who found a possibility of irreparable harm if the delisting went unchallenged.
The matter remained at an impasse until President Barack Obamas newly appointed interior secretary, Ken Salazar, resurrected the Bush-era delisting plan in April 2009. The decision infuriated pro-wolf conservationists, though it was not unexpected. Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, comes from a family of five generations of ranchers. A new lawsuit was filed by a coalition that included 14 environmental groups, among them the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Humane Society, and smaller outfits like the Center for Biological Diversity. While the suit was pending, Idaho and Montana opened a hunting season that resulted in the culling of more than 500 wolvessome 32 percent of the entire Northern Rockies population. A year later, in August 2010, Judge Molloy again ruled in the conservationists favor. He determined that the de-listing violated the letter and the spirit of the Endangered Species Act; he found no evidence of genetic exchange among wolf sub-populations. He also ruled that Fish and Wildlife had failed to properly oversee wolf management plans in Idaho and Montana. The judge ordered that years wolf hunts to be canceled.
The ongoing litigation drew the ire of Republican politicians throughout the West. Denny Rehberg, Montanas lone congressman, presented two bills during 2011 for a legislative delisting of the wolf, including one to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide that Act shall not apply to the gray wolf. The bills went nowhere, but Rehberg, who was gearing up to challenge Democrat Jon Tester for his U.S. Senate seat in 2012, had sparked a kind of arms race of anti-wolf rhetoric. The Republican governor of Idaho, Butch Otter, announced that he was ordering his state wildlife managers to relinquish their duty to arrest poachers, thereby freeing up Idaho hunters to continue shooting wolves. Otter also signed an emergency law that authorized him to declare a statewide wolf disaster. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah unsuccessfully attempted to amend the Endangered Species Act so that it no longer applied to any gray wolf. Montana Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat, weighed in with the Delisting Gray Wolves to Restore State Management Act of 2011, which died in committee. Tester floated his own wolf-delisting bill; it also went nowhere.
<snip>
-read further on how the delisting finally came about-
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)I lived in Alaska since I was 2. After that, I lived just south of Jackson Wyoming. In Alaska, wolves typically ate themselves out of house and home, then the ungulate population crashes, then the wolf population crashes, then it starts all over again. In the lower 48, that cannot happen, there is not enough room for new wolves to move in, etc.. Wolves must be managed or they will literally eat themselves out of house and home. Part of that management also means if they eat too many cows and sheep, the ranchers are going to demand their demise. They are powerful enough of a lobby out west to do it. Better to compromise and keep a small to medium, stable, man-fearing population.
I like wolves. I have been in the middle of a pack of them while they were howling. I have seen them move like ghosts across the tundra. There is something magical about them. The world without them is a sadder place. I also like grizzly bears and cannot imaging hiking, camping, or hunting without the possibility of a bear encounter. I like being in the woods knowing I am not the top predator.
I trust the FWS to do a good job. There are passionate biologists and ecologists working for them. HSUS has too many lawyers and too many activists for my tastes. They do what they do, but I do not want them making policy.
G_j
(40,366 posts)hunting and gun interests pushing for the delisting, and science opposing it?
Also where did you see that the Humane Society wanted to run any program. They AND other groups are suing over the delisting.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)I was there when it happened. The de-listing was expected and set by law based upon the number of breeding pairs. The ensuing cluster-fuck was about the seasons, what areas would remain a sanctuary, etc. The ranchers basically wanted open season year round, which forced the re-listing by a judge. HSUS sticks their nose in a lot of state wildlife issues and I, as a scientist, am not a huge fan of it.
G_j
(40,366 posts)Last edited Mon Feb 18, 2013, 10:16 AM - Edit history (1)
Not everyone is pleased with the decision, Dr. Sylvia Fallon, Senior Scientist and Wildlife Conservation Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, says that the recovery numbers were too low. Dr. Fallon posted on her blog:
Normally, the recovery of a species from the endangered species list is something to celebrate, but in this case, its just one more disappointing move on the part of the Service one that turns back the progress of one of our best conservation success
stories.
http://kowb1290.com/gray-wolves-delisted/
---
Curious, as a scientist, what is your field?
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)The ones who actually takes blood samples, ride in helicopters, and actually have access to the animals that they manage and are not just relying on journal papers someone else wrote to base their hypothesis. The guys with actual access who spend 365 days a year managing a population. These are opinions I respect. Not some hack living in D.C. who takes a plane ride once a year.
I am a toxicologist and I do environmental remediation work, air, groundwater, soil.
The Dr. Fallon you cite appears strange. I do not see any real research papers done by her, only a few review articles of other people's research (which are erroneously referred to as "studies" . I do not see what creds she has to call herself a "senior" scientist. That is kind of weird for folks in this line of work. I know when I google my name, my research and projects are the first hits on Google.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)are NOT the wildlife experts. They are a political lobby group out of D.C. and are certainly not a scientific organization. It is the scientists with the state who live in their area and manage the game that are the experts. When they say it is time to re-list, I will take notice.
Flying Squirrel
(3,041 posts)flvegan
(64,389 posts)Brother Wayne, see it through.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)He is leaving the ranges of our public lands fragmented into much smaller spaces. There are thousands of miles of fences, interspaced public lands and private owned livestock lands checkerboarded across America.
I don't see how any wildlife species can thrive in those conditions.