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> Home > Take Action: Wyoming is Worth Protecting! > Wolf protections restored! Write a letter to the editor today! Wolf protections restored! Write a letter to the editor today!A reason to celebrate! A federal judge in Montana granted our request for a preliminary injunction and restored endangered species protections for wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. This is step forward in our effort to improve wolf management in the Northern Rockies. The management plans in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming do not provide adequate protection for wolves over the long-term. As a result, approximately 90 wolves have been killed since they were removed from the list. In addition, all three states planned to institute wolf hunts this fall. The injunction granted by Judge Molloy will help keep wolf numbers from declining while our case challenging the illegal removal of the wolf from the endangered species lists works its way through the courts. You can read our full press release here. The judge’s ruling explains how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service flip flopped on two critical issues, originally opposing Wyoming’s management plan and maintaining the need for genetic exchange among wolf sub-populations, but reversing course in its delisting decision. Read more about the decision here. Read more about our wolf work here. Take Action:We need responsible management plans that will allow wolves to prosper and will benefit ranchers, hunters, the public and our local economies. Write a letter to the editor today, cheering the decision and pressing for sound wolf management in the future. Strategy for writing a letter to the editor: Talking points for your letter to the editor: - This decision should be celebrated and appreciated for what it is: a signal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the states that there are real problems with the way wolves were delisted. Now is the time to fix those problems. - This was a life or death decision. The judge’s ruling means approximately 500 wolves will live to see another day. - Our politicians are held accountable for flip-flopping and our federal agencies should be too. (Background information: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service originally opposed Wyoming’s plan to classify wolves as predators, meaning they could be shot on sight, in 90% of the state. Then, as political pressure mounted, USFWS flip-flopped and gave Wyoming the green light. USFWS also flip-flopped on issues of genetics. In the original environmental analysis, USFWS required some genetic exchange between the three sub-populations of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone area, central Idaho and northwestern Montana as part of the wolf’s recovery criteria. Now USFWS is trying to claim that the potential for genetic exchange is all that matters.) - Wyoming’s wolf management plan is incredibly aggressive, allowing wolves to be shot on sight in nearly 90% of the state. - Aggressive wolf-killing practices, genetic isolation and plans to institute hunts in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, could have pushed wolf numbers dangerously low and reversed decades of recovery work. The American taxpayer has invested too much in the wolf to see it pushed back to the brink of extinction. - The ruling puts an immediate stop to the wolf-killing that has taken place in the Northern Rockies since delisting. - Wolves need time and space to breed with each other. The original wolf recovery plan in 1994 laid out the need for genetic exchange but USFWS ignored this. - We need responsible, science-based wolf management plans in all three states. These plans should bring all sides to the table and create a solution that allows wolves to fulfill their role in the ecosystem and benefits hunters, ranchers, and the public. More Information:Contact information for newspaper editors in the region: Wyoming newspapers: Montana newspapers: Idaho newspapers: Regional newspapers: Let us know if you write a letter to the editor! Email melanie.stein "at sign" sierraclub.org today! |
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