wolves need help

I try to keep this blog apolitical, but I am bending my rule for this. I’d love if you took a minute to read this (if you haven’t already seen one of my pleas) – and if you feel moved – to add your name to a petition to help find a better solution for wolf management in Wyoming.

These next two days are critical for the wolves of Wyoming, if you haven’t already please check out the following petition to endorse re-evaluating the proposed management plan by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department which goes into effect in two days. It includes unregulated hunting, trapping, and poisoning of wolves in the majority of the state.

petition

Seeing wild wolves was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I want my children, and theirs as well, to be able to have that experience and be proud of the choices that we make today to protect these National Treasures of the United States and the Earth. I am not a liberal and I’m not a conservative. I’m a human being that understands that no issue is as simple as to have only two points of view. I understand that hunting is necessary for managing wildlife at this time, but I believe it should be done in a humane way with plans based on science and compassion. Wyoming’s plan includes neither.

summary of issue:

Wolves were removed from the Federal Endangered Species list last year, meaning the management of the species has been turned over to individual States. Montana and Idaho started management last year, and though their plans were approved by the Federal gov, they still include questionable methods that seem to endorse the old West mentality of extermination (outside of any National Parks) – though at least their hunting plans have some limits and regulations. To contrast bad and worse, Wyoming’s proposed “management” plan was so poor that last year the Feds would not turn over the responsibility until revisions were put into place. Any day now though, management will transfer from the Feds to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, despite very few reasonable revisions.

Wyoming’s current “management plan” includes categorizing the wolf as a “predator species” outside of Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park (and a small area just outside those parks). As a predator species, they will be subjected to unregulated hunting outside of those areas – they will be allowed to be shot, trapped, poisoned, or any other method of destruction, at any time, with no oversight. This plan is not far off the existing plans in states such as Texas that offer a dollar reward for every coyote killed.

Wyoming’s management plan needs further revision, or the wolf needs to remain with some Federal protection. Wyoming is part of this Union of the United States of America, and they are stewards of many National treasures. I believe in States’ rights to govern, but there remain shared resources that belong to all of us. Wyoming should remember that many of their cities and towns exist because of the treasures within their state, and much of their income comes from people who come from outside the state to visit. Let’s come up with a plan that honors the people who have to live with wolves, the wolves, and our future generations.

sign here

why should we care?

The proposed plan from Wyoming seems archaic and fear-based, not a plan based on science or even remotely including any compassion for a species that is directly related to animals that many of us keep in our homes and consider parts of our families. Anyone who has a dog or has experienced time with wolves knows that they are intelligent beings, live in close family groups, and experience some feelings similar to our own.

Wolves, and other apex predators, are necessary parts of a healthy ecosystem, just as are all creatures right down to insects and bacteria (see this article). It is proposed that one reason deer ticks and Lyme’s disease is so out of hand in the Eastern United States is that deer populations, along with other prey species, have gone unchecked due to lack of predator influence, allowing the ticks to proliferate.

The methods of “management” proposed by Wyoming include activities that I would associate with a 3rd world country. Let’s create a plan based on science and compassion, something we are proud of as citizens of the United States of America – something that can be a model for big predator wildlife management around the world. Poison and traps are horrific ways for an animal to die, and it is often a slow and painful death. Not only that, traps and poison have many other casualties in the form of other animals that aren’t targeted. I want my children and children’s children to be proud of the choices we make, not embarrassed that we reverted to the very tactics that put the wolf, bison, and many other animals in the position that they are in today.

sign here

recent articles regarding this topic:

LA Times click here

New York Times click here

Defenders of Wildlife summary click here

Thanks in advance for taking a moment to raise your voice in favor of a more humane, moderate and compassionate plan for managing these amazing animals!!!

sign here

Zach