Via Defenders of Wildlife:

Speak Out for Wolves in the Northern Rockies

For months, officials in the Bush/Cheney Administration have been threatening to eliminate Endangered Species Protections for imperiled gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.

Yesterday, they made good on their threat, announcing a proposal to end federal protections for wolves in Idaho and Wyoming — two states more concerned with eliminating wolves than managing them.

In Idaho, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has called for the elimination of all but about 100 of the state’s estimated 650 wolves, going so far as to tell a group of anti-wolf protestors that he was eager to bid for a chance to kill a wolf himself.

Things aren’t looking any better in nearby Wyoming. That state plans to kill as many as two-thirds of its gray wolves if the animals lose federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Last week, the state Senate’s Wildlife Committee approved a bill that would allow unlimited killing of wolves in some wilderness areas. Wolves would remain protected within Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, but could be shot on sight once they wander outside the safety of the national parks.

Handing wolf management responsibilities over to states that are planning wide-spread wolf eradication programs simply makes no sense and does nothing to address the factors that put the wolf on the endangered list to begin with.

The government once allowed our Northern Rocky Mountain wolves to be shot, harassed and poisoned into near extinction. We can’t let that happen again.

Please take action now.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts defenders of wildlife esa endangered species act hunting wolves Idaho Wyoming gray wolf conservation Northern Rockies