Stop The Government War On Wildlife

On March 21, 2017 congress voted 51 to 47 to repeal protections on National Wildlife Refuges to allow the killing of denning wolves and pups, hibernating bears and other predators on national refuge land in Alaska, and also deleted federal protections in the country. Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming have decided decided to eradicate wolves.

Wolves do not wipe out elk and other species. They take the weak and injured and strengthen the herd. They do not slaughter the healthiest specimens. Hunters however do just that - killing trophy animals - by doing so, weaken the gene pool. As was demonstrated in Yellowstone, the reintroduction of wolves brought the ecosystem there back from the brink of human caused collapse. Ranchers allow their cattle to strip the land and corporate large scale farmers destroy the biodiversity needed for a healthy ecosystem while poisoning bees and other beneficial species with insecticides.

The importance of wolves to the ecosystem was illustrated in Yellowstone National Park. The gray wolf was the apex predator in Yellowstone until their extermination around 1920. Elk populations exploded and the resulting overgrazing of willows and aspen seedlings and saplings was devastating, causing a trophic cascade ecosystem collapse. Beavers, who needed willows and aspen for food, shelter, and dam building. all but disappeared. Beavers play an important role in creating and enhancing habitat for many other species of animals and plants. With the disappearance of beavers, dams disintegrated turning marsh ponds into streams and there was massive loss of mature willows and aspen and erosion. Many plant and animal species suffered adverse effects. Various scavenger species (i.e. eagle, bear, raven) suffered without year-round wolf kills to feed on. In the absence of wolves, coyotes became an apex predator, driving down populations of prong horn antelope, red fox, rodents, and birds (including those that feed on rodents). In 1995, using the Endangered Species Act, the grey wolf was reintroduced to Yellowstone to restore balance. The positive effect was dramatic. The entire ecosystem began to recover from the damage caused by human intervention. Elk numbers dropped to a manageable number and wary elk spent less time in one place, allowing seedlings and saplings to grow. Beaver colonies increased from 1 to 12 after reintroduction of wolves. Coyote numbers dropped in half allowing antelope, fox and rodent populations to recover. Insects, fish, and amphibians began to thrive. Now, with a new war on wolves across the nation, we are showing that we have not learned a thing, hunting and trapping of wolves, bears, and other often endangered species of animals while allowing often destructive cattle grazing on public land. Additionally, use of lead ammunition is decimating scavenger species like eagles.
The lead enters the food chain and water eventually affecting people.

The Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services' arsenal incudes M-44s spring-loaded metal cylinders that are baited with scent and fire sodium cyanide powder into the mouth of whatever comes across them. Many of these cyanide land mines have been placed illegally on public land despite Agriculture Department’s assurances that they would not do so. According to its annual Program Data Report, WS killed at least 3.2 million wild animals in 2015 alone (including 69,905 coyotes, 384 gray wolves, 284 cougars, 480 black bears, 731 bobcats, 1,511 gray foxes, 1,534 red foxes, 20,334 black-tailed prairie dogs, and 21,557 beavers). The tally also included 17 domestic dogs. Agency records show that more than 3,400 animals have been mistakenly killed by M-44s since 2006. Recently a young boy was injured and his family dog was killed by one of these cyanide land mines. Countless family pets have been killed and gone missing due to this cruelty in addition to the admitted totals above. It is only a matter of time till a young child is killed also.

Romania banned all trophy hunting of brown bears, wolves, lynx, and wild cats on tuesday March 21, 2017. Romania proves to be more civilized than the United States whose congress voted to allow unlimited and indiscriminate killing of these animals including, slaughtering cubs asleep in their dens,poisoning, trophy hunting and hunting and killing by plane.

We need to condemn the Department of Agriculture and the states participating in this inhuman slaughter. The states participating thus far are Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, and Wyoming. Please boycott these states. In addition, we need to work to vote out of office the members of congress who voted for this atrocity including Florida senator Marco Rubio.