Also see: http://www.change.org/kinship_circle/actions/view/stop_the_slaughter_of_the_gray_wolf
Taxpayers spent millions to recover the very same wolves the Obama administration is now letting Greater Yellowstone states kill. There is no comprehensive federal wolf plan...just a bunch of people in camouflage gunning down wolves in Idaho and Montana.
I am shocked that the Obama administration activated a Bush-era rule to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species list. The delisting of Greater Yellowstone wolves basically sanctions their slaughter.
Montana opened fire on 9/15/09 with a 75-wolf limit. Idaho's race to kill up to 25% of its wolves (during this season alone) began on 9/1/09. Idaho's Department of Fish and Game hopes to sell 70,000 wolf-hunt permits in 2009. That's too many trophy hunters to unleash on a wolf population that has not fully rebounded.
Where is the intelligent strategy to sustain the very wolves that Americans salvaged from near extinction? Instead, we are asked to standby as Idaho and Montana aim for possibly the largest wolf bloodbath since the 1930s.
Please renew Endangered Species Act safeguards for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. I urge you to take meaningful action to reinstate protections now.
At the very least, suspend this irresponsible wolf "management" plan until it undergoes the type scientific scrutiny the Obama administration advocates. Secretary Salazar's original verdict to delist wolves didn't assess biological repercussions. It failed to consider Idaho's policy for the unsustainable killing of hundreds of wolves.
Wolves are key to thriving ecosystems. But state plans seem more focused on eradication than ecologically balanced wildlife populations. The federal government needs to defend the wolves that U.S. citizens invested millions in tax dollars to save.
Thank you,
