'endangered' wolves

[Dunc]

Judge orders US to keep protecting 'endangered' wolves

The grey wolf was nearly hunted to extinction in the US by the 1930s A federal judge has ordered the US to put Rocky Mountain grey wolves back on a list of protected endangered species.

Encouraged by the recovery of the once nearly-extinct wolf, the US last year moved to allow wolf hunts in two states while protecting them in a third.

But a judge ruled the law did not permit the US to protect part of a species population while allowing hunting of the rest.

Despite the ruling, Idaho said it would seek federal approval for a wolf hunt.

The decision puts wolves in the states of Montana and Idaho back on the endangered species list following their removal last year.

Grey Wolf

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• Largest wild member of the dog family
• Lives in packs of two to 12 individuals typically consisting of a single breeding pair and their offspring
• Packs inhabit territories of 200-500 sq miles, and will defend their patch against other wolves
• In a survey last year, the US found 1,645 wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains

Wyoming's wolves had remained protected because the US government was unsatisfied with the state's wolf protection plan.

In Montana, US District Judge Donald Molloy came down on the side of a coalition of conservation groups who had challenged the US Fish and Wildlife Service's move to take the grey wolf off the endangered species list in Montana and Idaho.

Among several arguments, the coalition said the law did not permit the Fish and Wildlife Service to "partially delist" protected species - protecting the wolf in one state but not others.

Significant protection "The plain language of the Endangered Species Act does not allow the agency to divide a [population segment] into a smaller taxonomy," Judge Molloy wrote.

Grey wolves were once abundant in the US, but a government-sponsored hunting programme nearly eradicated them. The wolves were gone from Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and south-western Canada by the 1930s.

The US passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and the wolf was listed as endangered in 1974, affording it significant protection from hunters.

In the 1990s, the government reintroduced wild wolf populations into the northern Rocky Mountains, situated in the western US.

Powerful ranching interests in the states concerned have opposed protection of the wolves, saying they threaten livestock.

[dygosamikita]

Glad to hear it. It is amazing how much they are still misunderstood. I wish they would make it back into the lower parts of Michigan as the deer population could really do with some thinning out. We used to go out at night and look into the fields at the deer and it was nothing to see 40-50 deer standing in one field. Not too mention the loved one that are lost on account of the deer leaping into the road. I have had personal experience of that so if a few head of livestock are lost in the process I don't think that is too much of a price to pay.

[Lil Miss Bump]

wow it's an interesting read xxx

[Sarah]

that's great

[Mazz]

Very interesting read. I know in Northern Wisconsin, where we vacation, they have a large wolf population. About ten years ago, there were three or four packs with about 9 to 12 wolves per pack. The wolf population in Wisconsin has exploded in the last few years, expanded its territory, and the complaints have started. One of the common complaints is loss of dogs. Wolves simply take them. Total wolf population in Wisconsin is at 400 today. The state is currently seeking to have the wolf delisted as endangered. Maybe this judge's ruling will put a stop to Wisconsin's attempt.

[meeshsalts]

It is the one thing I hate about the US and other countries that allow hunting. What is this obsession with guns and killing things.

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Too bloody right!!! I watched Ray Mears show a few months back on wolves and he was talking to some locals who did NOT come off as the smartest guys on the planet who were talking about them being there first and they should be able to live their lives without wolves interfearing... I thought just how ironic is that!?? And how dumb do you come across saying that, given that wolves were there loooooooong before people and people hunted them to the very brink of extinction!!!!

When will people learn that nature is perfectly balanced the way it was made and we do NOT need to mess with it we need to respect it!