DC/Idaho – July 1, 2021: Notable scientists, including Jane Goodall, George Schaller, Thomas Lovejoy, Wayne Melquist, Marcie Carter, and Roy Heberger are among 400 scientists who have called on President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to provide emergency protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, including Yellowstone.
Today, the state of Idaho will begin an eradication campaign to slash 90% of gray wolves from the landscape, with a goal of dropping the population from 1,500 to 150 wolves. This intervention, approved by the state legislature and signed by Governor Brad Little, involves the use of bounties, traps, snares, night raids, hunting hounds, and even the killing of nursing pups and mothers in their dens. The state of Montana passed similar legislation, seeking to eradicate 85% of that states wolf population. It includes a bounty system like that which led to the eradication of wolves from the West. Wyoming is allowing wolves to be killed across nearly 90% of the state.
The letter states: “We view the new state-sponsored wolf control laws as: 1) a major setback for wildlife recovery in North America; 2) a misinformed and short-sighted policy that lacks scientific credibility and disregards successful, nonlethal mitigation measures to promote human-wolf coexistence; and 3) a decision by three states that runs counter to modern day wildlife management and to the will of much of the American people who value wolves.”
These 400 scientists are asking the Biden administration to enact an emergency relisting of the Northern Rockies wolf population under the Endangered Species Act and to consider long-term conservation measures in the form of a National Bison, Grizzly, and Wolf Restoration Act.
The letter continues, “We ask you to act now: stand with the scientists and the American people who favor wolf conservation, reinforce the efforts of Indigenous peoples to protect our precious wildlife, and implement a vision where the diversity and abundance of life on Earth are secure.”
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