(photo: AP/National Park Service)
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Obama supporters, it’s time to begin flooding his office and your representative with letters, phone calls, and sharing this information with everyone you know!
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under President Barack Obama believes it is okay for hunters and ranchers to begin killing gray wolves again, a species that nearly went extinct last century.
FWS filed court documents with a Washington, DC-based court of appeals saying it opposed a federal judge’s decision to restore legal protection for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region.
The Obama administration is joined by two states, Michigan and Wisconsin, which also objected to U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling in December that said the states’ management plans for the wolves don’t do enough to protect the species. Howell’s ruling also applied to the management plan developed by Minnesota. The plans in all three states allow sports hunting; in Michigan and Wisconsin they also permit the trapping of wolves.
FWS spokeswoman Laury Parramore told the Associated Press: “The science clearly shows that wolves are recovered in the Great Lakes region, and we believe the Great Lakes states have clearly demonstrated their ability to effectively manage their wolf populations.”
But Howell believes more needs to be done for the animals.
The judge wrote that the Endangered Species Act (pdf) “offers the broadest possible protections for endangered species by design. This law reflects the commitment by the United States to act as a responsible steward of the Earth’s wildlife, even when such stewardship is inconvenient or difficult for the localities where an endangered or threatened species resides.”
Russ Mason, wildlife division chief of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, told AP that some sort of controls are needed for farmers to protect their livestock from predator wolves. A coalition of environmental groups has proposed most of the wolves be reclassified from “endangered” to “threatened,” which would allow livestock managers to kill them when they repeatedly attack farm animals. The Humane Society of the United States supports that position as a reasonable “middle ground.”
However, a recent study by at Washington State University determined that the killing of wolves that attack livestock actually brings about an increase in such wolf attacks.
The combined wolf population in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin is about 3,700. The national population is believed to be less than 17,000. Nine states are considered by scientists to be Great Lakes wolves’ territory. Alaska has the largest gray wolf population.
Since 2003, the U.S. government has made four attempts to end protection of the wolves, and each time its effort was overturned in court.
Although FWS has already filed documents with the court, an agency spokesperson said that a final decision on whether to pursue the case has yet to be made by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff, Danny Biederman
**Special thanks to ALLGOV for providing this information! (http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/obama-administration-sides-with-hunters-over-protection-of-gray-wolves-150303?news=855838)
The Wolf Preservation Blog 
Michigan has had only one wolf season and trapping was not allowed. Minnesota and WI allow trapping, but MI did not. WI also allows the use of dogs in pursuit of wolves 24/7/365.
If this is the position of a Democrat administration then what will happen if a Republican admin. gets power. I hope this is correct in what I am saying as being a Brit. I was under the impression that the Democrats were not as right wing as the Reps. time will tell.
Regards Oliver Craig
Ann,
As long as politicians, both Republican and Democrat, keep siding with sportsmen groups, there isn’t a dependable candidate that I’ve seen. In 2014, Senate Democrat Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing previously urged Republican leadership to send the hunting law measure to the ballot, arguing that approval would disenfranchise voters who had signed the anti-hunt petitions. So at least he made that statement but still nothing has changed. With that being said, I’ve heard more Democrats at least question wolf hunting bills but in the end, not enough on either side steps up and makes a real impact.
Obama lost my support in 2011 when he allowed the delisting!