Wolves To Lose Endangered Status Within 60 days, First Time Congress Has Taken A Species Off List

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Federal wildlife officials say they will take more than 1,300 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list within 60 days.

An attachment to the budget bill signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama strips protections from wolves in five Western states.

It marks the first time Congress has taken a species off the endangered list.

Idaho and Montana plan public wolf hunts this fall. Hunts last year were canceled after a judge ruled the predators remained at risk.

Protections remain in place for wolves in Wyoming because of its shoot-on-sight law for the predators.

There are no immediate plans to hunt the small wolf populations in Oregon and Washington. No packs have been established in Utah.

Comments

[bad spelling grammar]

06:42 PM on 05/02/2011

Humans where the species that hunted the American wolves to extinction and saw the aftermath with the rise in deer/ elk populations due the loss of natural predators and the decline in plant species due to the over consumption caused by the increased deer/ elk. Then people introduced wolves to help control the population of deer/ elk to help restore the balance in the food-chain. We saw plants making a comeback with deer and elk population returning to sustainable amounts. Now since the wolf population has made a comeback people fear that the elk/ deer populations are falling to low and that PEOPLE need to interfere in order to fix this problem. What everyone who supports the killing of wolves fails to realize is that once the deer and elk population naturally fall SO WILL THE WOLF. There won’t be enough food to sustain the wolf populations and balance will naturally form in the food-chain again. So history will repeat itself with idiots (who think they know everything) stepping in to try and play natures role and thus killing off all the wolves again only until we have killed the last one and need to ask Canada to borrow a few again. Unfortunately everyone who is for the wolf hunts are supporting it because they get pleasure out of killing, which is the core definition of sport hunting, since it has nothing to do with human survival.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

01:31 PM on 04/21/2011

the howl
There was a time the world was ours
No big tall buildings, no noisy cars
No people with guns, shooting at
Everything they see
When we could howl
As a family
When we could roam our world
At will
Not worrying about if we would
Be killed
The moon our beacon, the sun our friend
We did not think this would ever end

[Judith Jaehn]

10:01 PM on 04/28/2011

Thank you my beautiful friend....
This is a nightmare Karen, a horrific one..

[olitenup]

05:43 PM on 04/20/2011

An act of congress was signed by Pres. Carter over ruling a supreme court ruling, exempting the Little Tennessee River, in which resided a newly discovered snail darter, from having to comply with the Endangered Specie Act, back in the late 70's. The exemption was driven by then Republican TN Senator Howard Baker.

[SukiTheCat]

05:33 PM on 04/20/2011

This is ridiculous...now they will be hunted until they have to be put back on the endangered list...such a sad world we live in...where we can't just live and let live

[verflixed]

10:27 PM on 04/19/2011

I do not care what the politics of this is but it is clear that nobody in the environmental movement should vote for Obama. His goose is cooked.

[olitenup]

05:47 PM on 04/20/2011

Congress also FULLY funded the BLM to remove an additional 10,000 Wild mustangs and Burros from public lands thus allowing 5th generation Interior Dept Salazar's cronies to but thousands of head of calltle, at only $1.37 for mom and calf/year, on the same public lands. Once the addtional 10,000 head are rounded up, US taxpayers will be paying to house over 45,000 head of horses, some of them in abusive situations.

[sheine]

07:54 PM on 04/19/2011

Obama signed the bill, he shares the blame. Enough of the excuses about how he had no choice.

[acatlett6]

05:44 PM on 04/19/2011

Where can I find the list of congressmen/women that voted for/against this? This is ridiculous!

[va23]

12:35 PM on 04/20/2011

The link to the list of senators that voted “yes” to the delisting:

http://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/contact-the-infamous-81/

[innerpuppie]

09:03 PM on 04/23/2011

I have written my senators. I wish I could do more. I wish I could stand in front of each and every animal that was sighted in by those who would take its life.

[Master-T]

12:55 PM on 04/19/2011

This is tragic. I followed this story from the beginning, donated to wildlife organizations to stop this from happening - and it's happening anyway. The cowards of the west will now kill off as many of the wolves as possible, and guess what's going to happen: they're going to go right back down to their nearly extinct status.

For shame America.

[SukiTheCat]

05:34 PM on 04/20/2011

totally, I also donated money to stop this from happened, tragic that it it

[ModerateCentrist]

12:47 PM on 04/19/2011

Wolf & Wolf Sub-Species, Already Extinct :

Dire Wolf, Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf, Honshu Wolf, Hokkaido Wolf, Mongollon Mountain Wolf, Southern Rocky Mountain Wolf, New Foundland Wolf, Texas Grey Wolf, Kenai Peninsula Wolf

Currently Endangered:
Egyptian Wolf, Arabian Wolf, Mexican Wolf, Red Wolf, Caspian Sea Wolf, Indian Wolf

and thanks to our disgusting politicians, the Gray Wolf will very shortly be back on the list.

[Abena in Africa]

01:41 PM on 04/19/2011

Horrible.

[From my cold dead hands]

07:52 PM on 04/19/2011

Reply to your comment:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i've got news for you - everybody but hunters hate hunters.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No reason, though, you just hate me because I am a hunter......

That was a really thoughtless and insensitive comment. Here, I will do you one better, then. I am a meat hunter. I can only afford to hunt large and tasty animals, and as such I had not planned on hunting wolves. I have been talking to a Korean classmate, however, and she assures me that she has many recipes for dog. :-)

97% of the population of the US eats meat, but only 78% of the population supports hunting. (Which is actually pretty high.) What that means is that around 20% of the population of the US has not come to grips with the fact that an animal dies when they eat meat. This is the kind of person that will tell you they hate how cruel hunters are while they are carving up a steak or feasting on chicken wings. These people are like contract killers--responsible for deaths but not willing to acknowledge it. Me, I do my own hits. If you are not a vegetarian and you hate hunters, then you are not thinking. If you are a vegetarian, then you should hate 97% of the rest of the population that is just as responsible for animal deaths as hunters.

[verflixed]

10:32 PM on 04/19/2011

not so fast. There are animals that are bred for food. If you hunt for food and not Trophies and leave endangered species alone so be it. Remember we have only one planet to waste and we the human species are in fact doing that. So whatever is coming our way we deserve it. By the way plants also die when they are eaten and that is not an argument. We got to eat but we also MUST protect our environment.

[Cognocit]

12:18 PM on 04/19/2011

Here is who lobbied to circumvent the ESA - the National Rifle Association and trophy hunting associates tSafari Club ,and Boone and Crokett.

From the NRA News Alerts
=========================

CR Provision Includes Partial Delisting of
Recovered Wolf Populations: An Important First Step

The National Rifle Association today thanked Members of Congress for taking an important step in the right direction for wolf and game species conservation. The continuing resolution FY 2011, scheduled for votes later this week, includes a general provision that delists certain populations of wolves from the Endangered Species Act. Wolf populations in Montana and Idaho as well as portions of Utah, Oregon and Washington would be declared recovered by reinstating the 2009 ruling from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), paving the way for regulated wolf hunting seasons. The NRA would also like to thank the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the Boone and Crockett Club, and Safari Club International for joining together in this important effort to place the states in charge of wolf conservation.

[mtn viking]

02:04 PM on 04/19/2011

How about the groups that brought the short-sighted lawsuit in the first place? What about the settlement most of the environmental groups tried to negotiate when they realized the mistake they made?

[Cognocit]

02:34 PM on 04/19/2011

Yes, that was also unfortunate. Although in compliance with the law, the strategy did place the ESA in jeopardy. Accordingly, the NRA, Boone & Crockett, and Safari Club took advantage of the blunder to undermine the act to their advantage. Right now , under the guise of conservation and the mythical North American Model of Wildlife Management, these same groups are lobbying to further dismantle the act. Their primary interests are guns and hunting for trophies, everything else they claim to represent is a pretense. I have been an NRA member for 42 years.

[verflixed]

10:33 PM on 04/19/2011

want to hunt wolfs? Lets start by shooting the pets of the western ranchers and members of the NRA

[4 Sierra]

11:48 AM on 04/19/2011

I'm not a Ron Paul fan, but even he said the wolf rider had nothing to do with the budget and therefore had no business being included in the budget bill. Until Congress stops slipping things like this into legislation, the whole country and everything in it will suffer. (Except for Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders, where are the wise and honest lawmakers in Congress?!)

[verflixed]

10:33 PM on 04/19/2011

Fire Congress

[4 Sierra]

11:40 AM on 04/19/2011

I agree Democrats are currently a big disappointment. It's frustrating and sad. But overall, Republicans still have a much worse environmental/wildlife record and they don't seem to believe in science and discredit it.

Unfortunately a third party candidate has such a small chance of winning, and when they're in a race, Republicans usually get the victory. Just look at the part Ralph Nader contributed in Gore's defeat - and we all know what that brought to the country!

Salazar needs to go. We don't need a rancher as head of the Interior Dept. He doesn't have a science or environmental background - only a political one. This has to change, and we can't give up.

[verflixed]

10:35 PM on 04/19/2011

We need to get out into the streets like they did in Egypt and demand that the Government be replaced including the Executive Branch and the Supreme Court.

[ModerateCentrist]

11:12 AM on 04/19/2011

and under a DEM administration!!! i am LIVID!!!!!!
just more proof that Obama and this administration are just as Corporate-Owned as any Rep adminstration ever was.
add conservation/environmental protections to his growing list of lies.
the only difference between the Dems & the Reps now is the Reps at least do what they say are going to do. the Dems just lie about everything.

[SukiTheCat]

05:36 PM on 04/20/2011

I'm really considering not voting next election...what's the use anymore, they're all the same

[va23]

06:56 AM on 04/19/2011

The delisting of the wolves in a Budget Bill shows the sorry state of politics these days. The very bedrock of the ESA, science, has long been forgotten in the name of political and financial gain.

Please read the report “Wolves at a Crossroads: 2011 – The Endangered Species Act in Peril” (the link is below) written by the Living with Wolves foundation. It is a very comprehensive report that covers all aspects of the wolf debate and was delivered to the Congress prior to their vote on the bill delisting the wolves.

http://www.livingwithwolves.org/Wolves_at_a_Crossroads11_secure-2.pdf

I wonder what will come next. I will not be surprised if bills start appearing in Congress to delist all sorts of vulnerable animal species in order to open up their habitats to business.

[4 Sierra]

11:58 AM on 04/19/2011

Thank you for sharing your comments about wolves and wildlife.

[SitandStay]

05:03 PM on 04/18/2011

Maybe if the wolves could learn to hang on a wall in Jackson Hole and just be allowed down to eat and go outside to use the bathroom, they perhaps could survive.

[DanSc]

07:30 PM on 04/18/2011

If your only exposure to Wyoming has been Jackson Hole, you need to get out more. That's like saying you've been to Los Angeles while only staying in Hollywood and never going to Compton.

[SitandStay]

04:34 AM on 04/19/2011

Saw your other post. Reality and kindness is waiting for you.
I flew into Jackson Hole on my way to Yellowstone and was happy to find there still exists a place where the air has no odor and you can be without sound. It was awesome.
I have lived in the same formerly rural, now suburban, area where I get to see deer routinely slaughtered on our roads because people will not slow down by just 10 miles per hour. I watch possums run over on the road where the tire just went over part of their head and see them writhe. I'm sure that being callous about suffering is not a benefit to our world and do know there is a better solution than letting people shoot them. I do know where cruelty comes from and it can be found in the Handbook of Child Psychology by Richard M Lerner.