Defenders Magazine
Get Defenders Headlines
Get the latest wildlife conservation news and information... right when we post it online.
Defenders Magazine
Defenders in Action: Bad News For Wolves In the Northern Rockies
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has wildlife conservation groups howling foul after he decided to strip away federal protections for northern Rockies gray wolves. The move comes only a few weeks after the incoming Obama administration temporarily halted a last-ditch effort by the Bush administration to delist the wolves.
Under the decision, federal protections would be removed for Montana and Idaho wolves, but wolves in Wyoming would still be federally protected until the state's management plan adheres to Endangered Species Act requirements.
Defenders of Wildlife announced its intent to challenge immediately the delisting in court and filed a Freedom of Information Act request to determine whether Salazar in fact took an independent look at the legal, policy and scientific flaws in the Bush administration decision. "The rule ignores contemporary scientific research on what constitutes a recovered wolf population and allows wolf populations to be reduced to the point where they could not achieve the natural genetic connectivity essential to wolves' long-term survival," says Suzanne Stone, Defenders' northern Rockies wolf representative. "The delisting rule would allow more than 1,000 of our region's 1,500 wolves to be killed—a loss that the wolf population couldn't possibly sustain." Further, by excluding Wyoming, it illegally divides the wolf population in the northern Rockies along state boundaries, and it ignores the serious deficiencies in Idaho's and Montana's management plans.
Text WOLF to 90999 Give $5 to Save Lives
A one-time charge of $5 will be added to your mobile phone bill. Standard messaging rates and additional fees may apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Proceeds benefit Defenders of Wildlife and are collected by the MGF. Service is available on most carriers. You can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to 90999. Full terms at mgive.com/a.
"Just three days before this decision, we were thrilled when President Obama stood before employees of the Department of the Interior, with Secretary Salazar at his side, and vowed to 'help restore the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act,'" says Defenders' President Rodger Schlickheisen. "Yet, Salazar has announced that he is adopting a rule that is just as flawed now as it was when the Bush administration issued this appalling plan."
Find out the latest developments on northern Rockies wolf issues.
