The United States federal government proposes to remove remaining protections for wolves throughout the country.  Read more in this Defenders of Wildlife press release.
Defenders is asking those interested to sign a petition to Sally Jewell, newly appointed Secretary of the Interior.  You can find this petition under “Take Action” at the top of the press release, or here:  Sign the Petition
You can sign the petition as is, add any comments you wish to make, contact Secretary Sally Jewell directly at feedback@ios.doi.gov
or simply send along your prayers and good will.  Anything will be appreciated.

Thank you!

Here’s my addition to the Petition:

Hear my voice.

I am a stakeholder in how public lands in the U.S. are used and managed.  That includes predator control on those lands.

Plans in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to drive wolf populations down to ~100 individuals a state are succeeding at warp speed.  In two years, approximately 1100 wolves have been killed from a population of about 1700 in the Rocky Mountain region.

Three hundred wolves are unlikely to sustain a biologically diverse and healthy group that can, over time, withstand disease cycles, loss of habitat, and the uncertain effects of climate change.  You know this already.  But isn’t that the real goal?  Get those numbers down until they are no longer sustainable over the long haul.  Extermination in the guise of management is not acceptable.

It’s ugly.  It’s based on the myth of wolves as evil incarnate.  It incorporates cruel and relentless hunting practices that call into question our decency as a species.  Deer, elk, moose, and bear are not pursued with the cruel rage that wolves endure.  If an animal is hunted, hunting practices must be controlled by those with a respect and even a love for the animal.  Existing wolf management practices mirror the fervor and mania of a witch hunt or a religious crusade, with all the blindness and brutality that implies.

I am a citizen of the United States, and my government must not permit this.  Not in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, and God forbid, not anywhere else in the U.S.   When the states demonstrate their inability to proceed with decency, the federal government must act.

Base your decisions upon fact and science, not myth or political bullying.  The benefits wolves bring to the ecosystem and the health of prey populations are well known.  So is the fact that wolf predation on domestic livestock is minimal, and that means exist for reducing this predation even further.

Hear my voice.  It’s your job to find a way.

Thank you.  I now join the Defenders of Wildlife petition:

cc: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
http://www.fws.gov/