On Friday, March 28, the US Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS) removed federal Endangered Species Act
(ESA) protections for gray wolves living in the Greater Yellowstone
and Northern Rockies region. Just one month earlier, the Bush
administration handed down a license-to-kill rule to hunters in
Wyoming and Idaho —where the majority of the region’s 1,500 wolves
reside.
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Anyone can kill wolves - for any reason
- across 88 percent of Wyoming.
Len Tillim
/www.iStockphoto.com
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Together, these two actions
transfer wolf management to individual states and will allow the
slaughter of hundreds of wolves by trapping, hunting and aerial
gunning. Now classified as a trophy game mammal in parts of Wyoming
and as a predator in other regions, the once-fully protected gray
wolf currently shares “varmint” status with coyotes, skunks,
jackrabbits and stray cats in much of the state.
Within five days of removal of
federal ESA protections, at least 10 wolves were shot in Wyoming and
Idaho, and several organized wolf hunts were reportedly carried out
near Jackson Hole, Wy. Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has vowed
to “bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf,” while Wyoming
Governor Dave Freudenthal stated, “In terms of reducing the packs,
that’s always been a state objective from the outset.”
Wolf populations could be reduced
by as much as 80 percent in the tri-state region, from an estimated
1,500 to only 300 wolves, even though many scientists believe that
assuring the future of this still-recovering species would require a
population of somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 animals.
Wolves fare no better in the Southwest, where fewer than 55
endangered Mexican gray wolves remain in the wolf recovery area of
New Mexico and Arizona. While Mexican gray wolves will retain their
endangered species status in the region, the FWS has authorized the
removal of 70 Mexican wolves over the past decade at the behest of
public lands livestock ranchers. Population numbers are further
threatened by the fact that only four breeding pairs remain in the
area.
After spending millions of taxpayer
dollars to recover gray wolves from the brink of extinction over the
last decade, the FWS appears poised to allow their systematic
extermination for a second time. Wildlife advocacy organizations
have filed several lawsuits challenging the US government’s actions
to remove federal protections for gray wolves across the country. |
