Wolf 253

[skibuminwyo]

Rest in peace, buddy. I can say from getting to watch him in action, that he was one of the cooler wolves I've ever had the opportunity to see.





Story, from http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aw...f_253_rip.html

On Friday, March 28th, the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed federal endangered species protection from gray wolves in the rocky mountain region. Within a few short hours reports started coming in of wolves being shot in Wyoming where they can now be killed anytime and for any reason in most of the state. Among those first to be killed was a wolf known to many as #253.

Wolf #253 was a member of the Druid pack and first became famous for surviving a brutal fight with a competing pack that left him with the use of only three of his legs. His dark, black coat, signature limp and eager perseverance won him fans among the public who traveled to Yellowstone for a glimpse of the survivor.

His status as famous turned to infamous in 2002 when wolf #253 ventured out of the park, looking to start his own pack and was found hundreds of miles away just north of Salt Lake City in a coyote trap. His journey became the first confirmed wolf sighting in Utah in over 70 years. He was returned to Yellowstone with a new limp from the ordeal, but quickly ran again with his old pack.

Wolf #253 was a symbol of wolf recovery and its short comings in the rocky mountain region. Full of spirit and promise, but not quite fully recovered, the population will continue to limp along. We believe that removing the rocky mountain wolves from the Endangered Species Act is premature and have filed a notice of our intent to challenge the government’s decision in federal court at the end of this month. In the meantime, we hope that the demise of wolf #253 is not a harbinger for the demise of all the hard work that has gotten the wolves to where they are today. Let’s not allow one of our greatest success stories to turn into one of our most regrettable failures.

[timvwcom]

Bush Admin = Still Total Shithead!

[timnormandin]

I'm waiting for the day humans can be killed at any time and for any reason. That's going to be a good day.

[Jer]

I'm waiting for the day humans can be killed at any time and for any reason. That's going to be a good day.

Me too. I'd even go to the (nukeable, IMO) state of Wyoming for that.

The human population is way more out of control than the wolf population. Something needs to be done before it gets way out of hand.

[The Suit]

Bush Admin = Still Total Shithead!

It seems like a stretch to blame Bush or his administration for this one. The states have been way out in the lead.

[skibuminwyo]

I'm waiting for the day humans can be killed at any time and for any reason. That's going to be a good day.

Very much so.

[skibuminwyo]

It seems like a stretch to blame Bush or his administration for this one. The states have been way out in the lead.

Seconded. If the states would have came up with a viable management plan earlier, instead of being quite so stubborn, this mess would be under a little bit more control. I love Wyoming, but their hard-headed-ness (if that is a word?) has caused quite a bit of heartache, and resulted in this atrocity of a "management" program.

[timvwcom]

It seems like a stretch to blame Bush or his administration for this one. The states have been way out in the lead.

You know we all love ya... even when you are wrong; Don't ban me. Ha!

Conservation Groups Challenge Federal Wolf-Killing Rule

Wolves in central Idaho and Greater Yellowstone area affected

January 28, 2008

Photo of two wolves

Missoula, MT -- Conservation groups are fighting a Bush administration plan that would allow the states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana to kill well over half of the Rocky Mountain wolf population, including by shooting wolves from the air, while they are still protected under the Endangered Species Act. In an effort to bar states from aerial gunning and other state-sponsored killing of wolves, seven conservation groups filed a suit in federal district court today to stop the implementation of the rule.

The new rule lowers the bar for wolf killing when a state determines that wolves may be having some impact on populations of elk, deer, or other wild ungulates. The Bush administration says the rule change is necessary because the previous standard required states to show that wolves are the primary cause of a decline in wild ungulate numbers. That threshold has proven impossible to meet because nearly all elk herds in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are above population objectives, and wolves have never been determined to have primarily caused a population decline.

Today's action will allow the states to kill all but 600 of the approximately 1,500 wolves in the region. The rule applies to wolves in central Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone area -- descendents of the roughly 60 wolves that were reintroduced to those regions in 1995 and 1996.

"The federal government is overlooking the benefits wolves are bringing to the states of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana," said Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold. "The University of Montana found that visitors coming to Yellowstone National Park to see wolves brought $35 million annually to the region's economy, which yields more than $70 million in added benefit to communities in the Northern Rockies. Elk populations are now healthier, streams run cold and clear again, and other wildlife populations are back in balance."

"This is a giant step backward. There is absolutely no reason to begin a wholesale slaughter of the region's wolves," said Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies wolf conservation specialist for Defenders of Wildlife. "Yet that is exactly what the federal government is willing to allow the states to do: wipe out hundreds of the wolves our nation has worked so hard to recover."

"In this rule, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is either downplaying the threats to wolves, or it has forgotten all the trigger-happy statements made by Wyoming and Idaho officials who want to kill as many wolves as possible, as soon as possible," says Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The rule remains in effect only until the administration removes wolves from the list of endangered species, an action that is expected to come next month. Nonetheless, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adopted the rule in response to the state of Wyoming, which insisted that states have the right to kill wolves affecting elk herds in any way even if a federal court overturns wolf delisting in the Northern Rockies.

"Deer and elk populations are thriving in this region. There's absolutely no reason to begin slaughtering wolves, other than to please a handful of special interests," said Sierra Club representative Melanie Stein. "This is another example of politics trumping science in the Bush administration. Federal and state agencies are tripping over each other, and our wildlife are suffering as a result."

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity noted that the rule might allow wolves to be killed for their beneficial effect of dispersing elk from sensitive streamsides even when the elk population as a whole continues to rise. Robinson continued that "the rule harkens back to a period in which wolves' natural role of maintaining the balance of nature is seen as a problem."

"This rule is nothing less than a declaration of war on wolves in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana," said John Grandy, Ph.D., senior vice president of The Humane Society of the United States. "After decades of progress, the service is abandoning all that we have achieved for wolf conservation and returning to the short-sighted persecution and extermination policies of the past."

[Jer]

They're both equally douchebags. State DB's pressure the Fed F&W, Feds take them off the endangered list, state DB's open season on them.


Saw a shitload of fresh wolf tracks on an old logging road today. No Saquatch tracks tho.

[timvwcom]

...No Saquatch tracks tho.

I'm still TOTALLY gonna make a "Sasquatch Seen TR" some day, hopefully soon. For me I need to go back to like 5th grade though. I'm thinking it'll have Google earth screen caps and more...

When was your sighting? Can you share on the internet about this???

[mtnjam]

Hey, 2FUNKY, what's your take on this?

Betcha yer out there sighting 'em in and lettin' the ol' 30 ot 6 ride

[Beder]

I know some ranchers and cattlemen in Idaho whose hatred for wolves is so deep it cannot be fully expressed in words.

I'm all for shootin critters, within reason. This just feels wrong.

[rideit]

I know some ranchers and cattlemen in Idaho whose hatred for newcomers who are pricing the old ways out of existence, yet are selling their own non-producing ranches for millions, is so deep it cannot be fully expressed in words.

.

Slight touch up.

[Badgerman]

I'm waiting for the day humans can be killed at any time and for any reason. That's going to be a good day.

You mean you want to be a young Iraqi male?

[skibuminwyo]

Back on subject. 5B, nice avatar.

[Badgerman]

Wolves are cool. After all, all our dogs are descendants.


Man and wolves hunted together many moons ago


Ranchers/farmers......always ready for the next government handout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_domestic_dog

[Cliff Huckable]

+++++++++++++++++++++++vibes++++++++++++++++++++

for the tenacious #253