For Immediate Release: October 26, 2021
Contact: Cindy Hoffman, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, (202) 489-5587, cindy@wildlifecoexistence.org; Michel Liao, Timberline High School Student, (208) 995-7613; michel.liao22@gmail.com; James Holt, (208) 791-3306, Buffalo@buffalofieldcampaign.org; Rob Vernon, Association of Zoos and Aquariums (202) 365-7612, rvernon@aza.org
BOISE, Ida. — Jane Goodall, Timberline High School students, hunters, tribal leaders, and the former Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who removed protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies, are among the numerous voices in a new video asking President Biden to act on his own words and reinstitute federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies (RelistWolvesNow.Org).
Wolves are once again being persecuted under state management in Idaho and Montana. Idaho is allowing the killing of newborn pups and nursing mothers in their dens and Montana is allowing hunters to bait wolves from Yellowstone and kill them after they step across the border onto state land. Killing pups and habituated wolves is not hunting: it is brutal extermination. But we can stop it.
This extermination campaign must stop. These are just a few of the thousands of people who are speaking out asking President Biden to emergency list wolves in the Northern Rockies under the Endangered Species Act.
Jane Goodall, DBE: “When I heard that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services is planning a 12-month review of the effect of delisting wolves in the Northern Rockies, I was horrified because this means that the ongoing cruelty could be sanctioned for a whole year while they gather statistical data.”
Lee Juan Tyler, Shosone-Bannock Tribal council member: “I am in support of protecting our relatives, our brothers, the wolf. “Isha,” we call him in our language. It’s time. He needs protection again.”
Timberline High School Outdoor Science Club Members: “Since the enactment of Senate bill 1211, we have witnessed the inhumane slaughter of our innocent wolf pups, and almost every individual in the Timberline pack. Their senseless murders were both unethical and barbaric.”
Dan Ashe, former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums: “What’s happening now in Idaho and Montana isn’t hunting. It is pure unbridled cruelty. Anyone who participates is no hunter and certainly no sportsman or woman. Any individual or organization that doesn’t speak out in clear opposition is no conservationist.”
James Holt, Nez Perce tribal wildlife advocate, Idaho: “It’s time for the federal government to reinstitute protections for the wolf; to begin to honor him once again with appropriate management and protections.”
Senator Cory Booker, New Jersey: “We must take action now to prevent the second eradication of wolves in the West. We urge the Secretary to immediately enact an emergency relisting of the Northern Rockies wolf population under the Endangered Species Act. You have the power to stop this ruthless destruction of wolves.”
Coyote Peterson, Wildlife educator and host of Animal Planet series, Brave the Wild: “So please, we’re asking you: get involved and help stop the unnecessary hunting and poaching of these important predators. Thank you, Mr. President. I know that our words will be heard. Wolves need us to howl for them.”
Aspen Heidekruger, Animal Caretaker, Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, a wildlife sanctuary: “This persecution of wolves shouldn’t be happening, especially not on our federal public lands. Our lands should be managed based on good science, not 19th century brutality.”
The message from these leaders is clear: It is time for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put a stop to this extermination campaign and emergency list the Northern Rockies wolves under the Endangered Species Act. An emergency listing will put an immediate halt to this barbaric effort to exterminate wolves in these states and allow the Service time to implement a formal listing. There can be no doubt that these two states have illustrated through their laws and actions that they are not fit to manage wolves.
-30-
