11th Hour for Wolves
- by: Sierra Club
- recipient: Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior
Gray wolves are icons of wild America, but the Obama administration is on the verge of stripping most of them of their protections under the Endangered Species Act. This would be catastrophic.
If the federal government goes ahead with its plans, wolf management will be turned over to the states. This has already happened in the Northern Rockies and it’s been a disaster – over 1,700 wolves have been ruthlessly hunted down and killed in just the last two years. If wolves are stripped of their protections, we could see this happen in parts of the United States where their comeback is still in its early, fragile stages.
Don’t let the Obama administration abandon wolves – send a message to them today.
Subject: Protect the Gray Wolf!
Dear Madame Secretary Jewell,
I'm writing today to urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to not strip Endangered Species Act protections for most of the gray wolves in this country.
The resurgence of wolves on the landscape shows the progress made by the Endangered Species Act. Studies completed after the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park have found that wolves are an essential part of healthy wild landscapes. Wolves are also a boon to the local economy as a major tourist draw. But to delist them now threatens those decades of work and will jeopardize the recovery of the species.
Retaining federal protections for wolves in the lower 48 will not impact management in portions of the northern Rockies or western Great Lakes, where wolf recovery is a success. Instead, it will retain protections for a small number of wolves on the West Coast and wolves that have slowly been moving back into historically occupied areas like the southern Rockies and the Northeast.
Much can still be done to recover these incredible animals in suitable portions of their former range. Action by the Fish and Wildlife Service to remove protections for lower 48 wolves is premature and we urge you to abandon it.
