Save the Yellowstone Wolves.

Yellowstone National Park’s famous Cottonwood Pack has just been destroyed—all the adult wolves have been killed, and the surviving pups will likely die without the rest of their wolf family.

The Cottonwoods are just some of the latest victims of the federal government’s likely illegal decision to eliminate vital protections for our wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the northern Rockies.

The Cottonwood wolves are not alone. They’re among the more than 60 wolves already killed in the region – a disturbingly high number for a hunting season only weeks old.

Go here if you would like to sign a petition of protest

Here is another chance to speak on behalf of wolves. This comes from the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund:

“Already, more than 70 U.S. representatives have signed on as original cosponsors of California Congressman George Miller’s Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act, which would rein in Alaska’s out-of-control aerial slaughter of wolves.”

“Since 2003, more than 1,000 wolves have been slaughtered under the State of Alaska’s aerial wolf killing programs, shot dead by airborne gunners with high-powered rifles or chased to exhaustion and executed at point-blank range.”

“To artificially inflate Alaska’s moose and caribou populations – often for the benefit trophy hunters that don’t even live in Alaska – outgoing governor Sarah Palin accelerated the killing in recent years. In March, state employees carrying out Palin’s out-of-control wolf killing program even used helicopters to chase and kill 84 wolves in the Upper Yukon/Tanana area, near the National Park System’s Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.”

“According to photos and recordings of the hunt obtained by Defenders of Wildlife, some of these wolves were chased and harassed for nearly ten miles before being shot – exactly the type of harassment that Congress outlawed when it passed the Airborne Hunting Act in 1971.”

“If passed, the PAW Act would put an end to the out-of-control wolf massacre in Alaska and prevent programs like it from spreading to other states.”

You can take action and speak in support of this legislation by going to http://actionfund.defenders.org/akwolf

This is from Defenders of Wildlife.

“On Thursday – just one year after the world-famous wolf Limpy was shot and killed just outside Yellowstone National Park – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has eliminated Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Greater Yellowstone, the Northern Rockies and other parts of the American West!

As a result of Salazar’s action, more than 1,000 wolves in Idaho and Montana could be killed by people like Idaho Governor Butch Otter, who recently reaffirmed that he wants to be one of the first people to shoot a wolf.

Even worse, Salazar’s decision will also eliminate vital protections for wolves that are only now beginning to return to parts of their historic range in Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Utah.

I need your help to save Western wolves. Here’s what you can do…

1. Watch our new video online at:

http://action.defenders.org/meetlimpy

2. Send a message to President Obama and urge him to restore Endangered Species Act protections for Western wolves. You can take action online at:

http://www.savewolves.org/act

3. Spread the word. Just post this link:

http://www.savewolves.org/act

on your profile and encourage your friends to get involved with the fight to save our wolves.

As always, thanks for helping protect wolves and other wildlife.”

This is a new press release from Defenders of Wildlife

Upon reading this, I immediately sent another donation to support the efforts to sue the government on behalf of the wolves.

Same bad plan to delist wolves in the Northern Rockies
Salazar strips federal Endangered Species Act protection from wolves in Idaho, Montana

WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced he has decided to follow the Bush administration’s flawed decision to remove the protections of the Endangered Species Act from wolves in Idaho and Montana.

The following is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president for Defenders of Wildlife:

“Today is a truly disappointing day for Americans who care deeply about the Northern Rockies wolf population and for the integrity of the Endangered Species Act. We are outraged and disappointed that Secretary Salazar has chosen to push the same, terrible Bush administration plan for wolf delisting just six weeks into President Obama’s administration.

“We all expected more from the Obama administration, but Defenders of Wildlife will now move to sue Secretary Salazar as quickly as possible.

“Just three days ago, 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.’ Yet today, Secretary Salazar announced that he is adopting a rule that is just as flawed now as it was when the Bush administration issued this appalling plan. Americans voted for change last November. Today Secretary Salazar gave us more of the same discredited approach to conservation followed by the Bush administration for the past eight years.

“All the reasons why this plan was a bad idea when the Bush administration proposed it still stand today. If this rule is allowed to stand, nearly two-thirds of the wolves in the Northern Rockies could be killed. This plan would undermine the goal of ensuring a healthy, sustainable wolf population in the region. Secretary Salazar’s terrible decision leaves us no choice. We will stand up for wolves and endangered species conservation by moving immediately to challenge this delisting in court.”

The following is a statement by Suzanne Stone, northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife.

“Nothing about this rule has changed since it was rejected and deemed unlawful in a federal court in July of 2008. It still fails to adequately address biological concerns about the lack of genetic exchange among wolf populations in the northern Rockies and it still fails to address the concerns with the states’ wolf management plans and regulations that undermine a sustainable wolf population by killing too many wolves.

“We had hoped for a new delisting plan, based on current science that provides for a healthy, well connected wolf population in the region. Instead we are forced to, once again, challenge a bad rule forcing the expenditure of time and money that would have been much better served towards developing responsible state management plans.

“Delisting the wolf at this point completely undermines the serious work, consideration and cooperation among all stakeholders that is necessary before being able to seriously declare the gray wolf recovered.”

“The fate of Yellowstone’s wolves is hanging in the balance right now.

Hundreds of wolves got a last-minute reprieve when President Obama put a freeze on Bush’s midnight rule that would have stripped wolves in the Northern Rockies of their endangered species protection—leaving them vulnerable to mass killing.

But this “stay of execution” is only temporary, pending review by the new Interior Secretary.

Now we must rush into action – and convince Interior Secretary Salazar to reverse Bush’s deadly policy and maintain strong federal protection for wolves.

Please make your own voice heard. Send your Citizen Petition to Save Wolves to the Interior Secretary now.

We must act swiftly. Although scientific evidence is on our side – and the Interior Secretary has pledged to rely on sound science when managing wildlife—these wolves have formidable enemies.

Idaho has declared that it wants no wolves in the state whatsoever—and has a plan that could kill more than half of its approximately 700 wolves. The governor has already boasted, “I’m prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself.” Under the state’s cruel plan, even wolf pups could be killed.

The wolves of Wyoming and Montana face similar adversaries. And in Yellowstone, wolf populations are plummeting as wolf pups die of a yet-to-be determined disease.

Clearly, the plight of the gray wolf is so dire that we can’t afford to stand by and assume the Interior Department will automatically do the right thing.

That’s why the NRDC Action Fund is launching a brand-new public mobilization campaign. We need to make sure that Interior Secretary Salazar fully understands that the American people want these magnificent animals protected by the Endangered Species Act.

So please send in your Citizen Petition to Save Wolves right now. Even if you’ve spoken up for the wolves many times in the past, this is a new day.

With the Obama Administration in office, we have a chance to close the book on eight years of relentless attacks on wolves in the Northern Rockies—and write a new chapter in one of the most successful wildlife recovery efforts in history.”

Go here to sign a petition on behalf of the wolves

“We warned you it could happen soon—and it has.

In a cruel parting shot before leaving office, the Bush Administration has stripped wolves in Idaho and Montana of their Endangered Species protection—leaving them at the mercy of two states that are gunning for them.

Hundreds of wolves are effectively on death row. As soon as the hunting seasons begin and “Open Fire” orders are issued, state officials and hunters will fan out through Greater Yellowstone and Central Idaho in search of an animal that should be on the Endangered Species list.

NRDC is racing to court to stop this slaughter before it can begin.

As you know, this is the second time that the Bush Administration has removed federal protections from wolves in the Northern Rockies.

Last spring, more than 110 wolves were brutally killed in as many days. The wolf-killing rampage only stopped after NRDC and 11 other conservation groups prevailed in federal court—thanks to your support!

We must win again—because the plight of wolves has never been more dire. Yellowstone’s wolf population has already declined, as wolf pups die of a yet-to-be-determined disease.

The bottom line is: Greater Yellowstone’s wolves urgently need and deserve federal protection.”

With just days left in power, the Bush/Cheney Administration today announced another outrageous eleventh-hour attempt to eliminate vital protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies, including Greater Yellowstone.

More than 1,000 wolves could be killed as a result!

Defenders of Wildlife is already calling on the incoming Obama Administration and Congress to overturn this last-minute attack on our wolves. And our lawyers stand ready to take immediate legal action to challenge the latest delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies region.

To prevail in these efforts, we need plenty of support from folks like you. Please consider making a donation to help support our Greater Yellowstone Wolf Defense Fund and other wildlife-saving efforts. You can contribute online at the website below:

http://action.defenders.org/savewolvesdon

Well, sadly, not so unbelievable…

Earlier this week, the Bush/Cheney Administration launched another attack on wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies—re-packaging a proposal that could lead to the killing of as many as 1,000 of America’s most important and iconic animals.

Following several bloody months of wolf killing in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, a federal court ruled earlier this year against an earlier version of the Administration’s proposal to remove Endangered Species Act protections for the region’s wolves. In response, the Bush/Cheney Administration actually withdrew that proposal just a few weeks ago.

But with the clock winding down on the Bush/Administration, federal officials are launching a last-ditch attempt to re-package and ram through a plan that could lead to the slaughter of as many as two-thirds of the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Rockies wolf population.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments until November 28th. To register your protest, go here

for the Yellowstone Wolves, according to this latest message I received from Defenders of Wildlife:

I’ve got some great news!

Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) 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.

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.

Here is the link to use if you want to send a message on behalf of the Yellowstone wolves yourself.

I’m hopeful that I can soon mark this goal done and replace it with the new goal: Save Alaska’s Wolves.

but I have to say a word about the wolves in Alaska.

According to Defenders of Wildlife,

“Alaska’s policy allows marksmen in planes to gun down wolves from the air or chase them to exhaustion, then land and execute them at point blank range.

In the past five years, more than 700 Alaskan wolves have been brutally slaughtered by gunners in aircraft.

Wolves help the overall health of natural ecosystems. They help keep Alaska’s moose and caribou populations healthy and strong. Wolves are also important to Alaska’s billion-dollar tourism industry.

Yet the state continues to allow aerial gunning. In fact, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the state legislature have approved spending $400,000 in taxpayer funds to promote the slaughter from the skies—fearing Alaskans will once again vote to restrict this barbaric practice, as they have twice before.”

Please go here to urge the Bush administration to put a stop to this slaughter!