Twelve Conservation Groups Challenge Federal Wolf Delisting

[WQ Project Coordinator]

MISSOULA, MT— Twelve conservation groups are fighting for the survival of wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains. The groups today filed a federal court lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision to remove the northern Rockies gray wolf population from the list of endangered species. Wolves should not have been delisted, the groups argue, because they remain threatened by biased, inadequate state management plans, as well as by the lack of connections between largely isolated state wolf populations.

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s premature decision to strip the protections of the Endangered Species Act from the northern Rocky Mountains’ wolves promises to undo the hard-earned progress toward wolf recovery of recent years. State laws that guide wolf management in the wake of delisting betray the states’ continued hostility toward the presence of wolves in the region. While ensuring that wolves can and will be killed in defense of property or recreation, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana have refused to make enforceable commitments to maintaining viable wolf populations within their borders. The states have failed to keep track of recent wolf killings and also neglected to secure funding for essential monitoring and conservation efforts.

For the rest of the article, go to: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news ... -2008.html

The 12 organizations are: Earthjustice • Defenders of Wildlife • Natural Resources Defense Council • Sierra Club •Center for Biological Diversity • The Humane Society of the United States •
Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance • Friends of the Clearwater • Alliance for the Wild Rockies •
Oregon Wild • Cascadia Wildlands Project • Western Watersheds Project • Wildlands Project

[king1-7]

Whoops, I posted that big, long post on the wrong topic. I got my tabbed browsing mixed up. It's been moved to the correct one.

Anyway, this article kind of fired me up. I just wish the federal government would listen to these conservation groups. Really, they need to consider what's best for the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf species before they make a huge decision that involves killing them, and I do not feel like they're doing that at all. The points brought up in the article are good, in my opinion. Most of the conservation groups are using good, solid scientific facts to support their points about Northern Rocky wolf conservation.

If all of those points are valid, I hope the the government just listens, and changes their decision about wolf management so that it's for the WOLVES' best interests.