Thanks to Marc Cooke, Wildlife Advocate, for providing this information.
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
December 5, 2010
SOME REPRESENTATIVES HAVE JOINED THE ATTACK ON WOLVES AND THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Pardon us for a seeming redundancy, but a bill, HR 6028, has been introduced in the House of Representatives to delist wolves from the Endangered Species List (ESL). This is companion legislation to the Senate bill (S. 3864) we wrote to you about a few days ago. If anything, it is worse than the Senate version because it delists ALL wolves, including the remnant 47 Mexican wolves in the Southwest.
A few days ago, Interior Salazar Secretary assured 3 western governors that the Obama administration would help get the bills passed in the next two weeks.
This bill would circumvent the Endangered Species Act (ESA), & remove wolves from its protection.
It would set a dangerous precedent, by, for the first time, removing an animal from the ESL for political, not scientific reasons. No animal that hunters, ranchers and anti-wildlife forces dislike would ever be safe again.
The immediate consequences would be wolf-hunting seasons in Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming, as well as wolf exterminations by the US Wildlife Service. Almost half of the wolves recently brought back from extinction would be killed, thus reducing them to a remnant, token population, unable to fulfill their biological role in our forests and subjecting them to their possible second extinction.
We are asking you to take 3 actions:
1. Contact pro-environmental Congressmen on the House Committee on Natural Resources, listed below, and ask them to oppose this legislation.
2. Forward it to people who care about wolves.
3. Network with local pro-wildlife organizations & ask them to get on board in this effort (big ones like Defenders of Wildlife, NRDC, etc are already working on it)
Here are important talking points:
ï Rather than decimating livestock, wolves are responsible for less than 1% of depredation.
ï Rather than reducing elk populations, elk numbers have increased since wolf re-introduction to over one million in the Northern Rockies.
ï Scientific studies show that wolves have positive effects on forest health.
ï This bill would set a dangerous precedent, subjecting other species in the future to political rather than scientific scrutiny to delist them.
Thank you for your efforts. Together, we can successfully defend the wolves.
Nancy Taylor, Co-Chair
Ann Sydow, Co-Chair & Newsletter Editor
Ken Fischman, Vice-Chair
You can: (1) Call, (2) FAX, or (3) click on the Representativesí email
Committee on Natural Resources:
Rahall, Nick – (D – WV), Chair
(304) 522 6425 Huntington office
(304) 529 5716 fax
eMail – http://www.rahall.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91§iontree=91
Hinchey, Maurice – (D – NY)
(845) 331 4466 Kingston office
(202) 226 0774 fax
DeFazio, Peter – (D – OR)
(541) 465 6732 Eugene office
(541) 465 6458 fax
eMail – https://forms.house.gov/defazio/IMA/contact.html
Grijalva, Raul M. – (D – AZ)
(520) 622 6788 Tucson office
(520) 622 0198 fax
eMail – http://grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49§iontree=2,49
Miller, George – (D- CA)
(925) 602 1880 Concord office
(925) 674 0983 fax
eMail – https://georgemiller.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml
Committee on Natural Resources, Sub-Committee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife
Bordallo, Madeleine Z. (D – Guam), Chair
(202) 225 1188 Washington, D.C. office
(202) 226 0341 fax
eMail – http://www.house.gov/bordallo/contact.shtml
The Wolf Preservation Blog 
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