Sneak Attack on Wolves!
Less than a month after abandoning its disastrous delisting of gray wolves in the Rocky Mountains, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced new plans to take them off the endangered species list!

Unfortunately, we can expect more such last-minute attacks on wild places and creatures during the waning days of the Bush administration.

A 30-day comment period starts today.

Take action now to put a stop to this madness!

Woohoo, I finally figured how to post pictures.

 DO  

URGENT - Two Days to Submit Comments, Save Wolves


Dear Jacinthe,


Take Action Now

The alpha female of the former Mule Pack, prior to her May 1999 release into the wild. In January 2000, her left front leg had to be amputated due to frostbite suffered while held in a leghold trap that had been set in response to the Mule Pack having scavenged on a dead horse and cow left to rot on the Apache National Forest. She was re-released in March 2000 with her family, but the pack split apart, and she kept herself alive alone while roaming on three legs, at least till February 2001, when no more signals emanated from her radio collar.


The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, located in eastern Arizona where Mexican gray wolves roam, has proposed a new policy requiring proper disposal of livestock carcasses -- the first time livestock owners would be tasked with responsibility to prevent conflicts with wolves. Please voice your support for this policy.

If not made inedible or removed, the remains of cattle (and sometimes horses and sheep) that died of non-wolf causes serve to draw wolves to nearby live cattle and can habituate them to domestic animals instead of their natural prey -- which in turn can result in the wolves' being killed by the government in retribution.

The new policy would effectively ban the baiting of wolves into preying on domestic animals, and thereby save wolves' lives. "Predator control" killings are undermining recovery of the Mexican wolf, North America's most imperiled mammal, and the proposed change would help the wolf recover.

Preventing wolves from becoming habituated to livestock will also reduce wolf-rancher conflicts while helping wolves resume their ecological role keeping elk and deer herds healthy.

Your email to the Forest Service can help keep the agency resolute, so this provision sticks past the draft stage in the Apache-Sitgreaves Revised Forest Plan that will guide management of this forest for years to come.

Please submit your comments by October 15, 2008.


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Click here to find out more and take action.


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Sample letter:

Forest Plan Revision Team, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest:


I support the provision in the Draft Desired Conditions for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests' Revised Forest Plan that states: "Livestock carcasses are not available for scavenging."

However, I request that rather than just apply in the Apache National Forest -- ie. "within the Mexican Wolf Recovery Zone" as stated in the Draft Desired Conditions -- that the provision govern both the Apache and Sitgreaves national forests. This would acknowledge that Mexican wolves need to be able to occupy areas outside the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area (ie. the Apache and Gila national forests), and would also take into account an ongoing Fish and Wildlife Service rule-change process intended to allow wolves to roam beyond the current boundaries. The Sitgreaves National Forest is important wolf habitat and could serve as a travel corridor for wolves to be able to reach the Grand Canyon ecosystem.

The carcass scavenging provision of the Draft Desired Conditions would follow the recommendations of the Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Three-Year Review (2001) and of the American Society of Mammalogists (2007).

If wolves and livestock are to coexist, we must prevent conflicts to the extent possible rather than blame the wolves once they have already become used to regarding domestic animals as prey. Ensuring that livestock carcasses are not available for scavenging is a common-sense way to keep Mexican wolves in the wild and help ensure their recovery. There are many ways to accomplish this, including hauling carcasses away, burying them, or treating them onsite with lime, fire, or even dynamite (depending on conditions).

In sum, please retain this provision in the final version of the Forest Plan, and ensure it covers the Sitgreaves National Forest, as well.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xjsz7aNerqyX2/2889TNZKLIZwAwuI0b

This summer, Alaska wildlife agency personnel staked out a known wolf denning site – a practice that is illegal under Alaska law – and, using helicopters, gunned down 14 adult wolves from the air.


When they landed, they found 14 helpless pups in the nearby dens – infant wolves just weeks old – and methodically shot each one in the head. 28 wolves gunned down in all.


Due to a loophole in federal law, Alaska is the only state in the U.S. where a few hunters still use aircraft to shoot wolves or chase them to exhaustion before landing and shooting them point blank. But the practice of "denning" – the killing of wolf young in the den – is prohibited even under Alaska law. This killing of 14 wolf pups disturbs even longtime hunters in Alaska.


During her two years as governor, Sarah Palin proposed a $150 bounty for the severed foreleg of each killed wolf and introduced legislation to make it even easier to use aircraft to hunt wolves and bears. But it's time that Governor Palin call for a thorough investigation into the killing of these 14 wolf pups, and bring any Alaska employees who acted illegally to justice.


Governor Palin presents herself as a pro-ethics reform politician. Please sign our petition to hold her accountable to her promises and send an email to your friends to spread the word.



http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/968322162

Sometime soon, federal wildlife officials are expected to rescind their previous plan to de-list the region’s wolves.

Urge federal officials to adopt a more responsible management plan for wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.



Dear Jacinthe,

I’ve got some great news!

Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FW say that they plan to rescind the agency's plan to delist gray wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies sometime soon and place them back under federal protections.

Thanks to your incredible efforts and support over the last few months, the Fish and Wildlife Service has finally bowed to reality by recognizing that there are serious scientific and legal problems with their plan for delisting wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.

I am so proud of your efforts and grateful for your support in this fight. This important victory couldn’t have happened without the efforts of tens of thousands of Defenders supporters, our dedicated staff and our conservation allies.

But our wolves aren’t out of trouble yet.

Take action now. Urge Dale Hall, the head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, to protect wolves with a plan that ensures that responsible, science-based and balanced management will benefit wolves, ranchers, hunters, Northern Rockies residents and all Americans who care deeply about wildlife conservation.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana must now go back to the drawing board and come up with a new, more responsible plan to ensure that wolves are fully recovered with healthy, sustainable and diverse population levels before they are removed from the list of federally protected species.

Jacinthe, we need your help to ensure that common sense and sound science -- not anti-wolf extremism -- guides this new plan.

Help us ensure that this is a lasting win for some of America’s most beloved wolves. Please take action now.

With Sincere Gratitude,


Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife



http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=KZzvf8lO3vwHouTaOflJUw..

2:40 PM

Stop the dolphin and whale killings in Taiji

http://www.petitiononline.com/golfinho/


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Help Bring Kei the Wolf Home

http://www.petitiononline.com/Earle2/petition.html

Stop Alaska's Aerial Hunting Program From Expanding To Yellowstone!

Ask your representatives to support the PAW Act - Protect America's Wildlife.

View
http://ga0.org/ct/ap2c1z91-LSM/

Tell Alaska Governor To Stop Wolf Slaughter
As many Alaskans already learned via media reports, 14 one-month old wolf pups recently were killed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in a practice known as "denning". Denning is the practice of killing wolves in or around their den, in this case by shooting them in the head. 14 adults were also killed.

Please, as soon as possible, contact Alaska Governor Sarah Palin expressing your objections to this unethical and illegal decimation of Alaska's wolf population. Tell her you will take your tourist dollars elsewhere.


http://ga0.org/ct/6d2c1z91RU_S/

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A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to restore endangered species protections for gray wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the northern Rockies until the full case can be heard in court. NRDC, Earthjustice and other groups requested the preliminary injunction in order to stop the slaughter of wolves that ensued after the Bush administration stripped them of federal protection in March. In the months leading up to the court's ruling, more than 110 wolves were killed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming -- about one per day. Meanwhile, NRDC interns stationed at an information booth inside Yellowstone this summer collected more than 200 signatures per day from visitors who were eager to show their support for creating a long-term recovery plan for wolves. Please make your own voice heard on behalf of wolf recovery by going to the website of our partner organization, the NRDC Action Fund.

» Urge the Interior Department to ensure a healthy future for wolves in the northern Rockies.


http://www.nrdconline.org/ct/VdBTcg613PGK/

Protect the Wolves of Norway

Petitions about Wolves