Take Action: Tell the Bush Administration to Protect Gray Wolves!

Tell the Bush Administration to Protect Gray Wolves!

We must stop the Bush Administration's plan to declare open season on the wolves of Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho. If this plan is approved, Wyoming and Idaho intend to begin exterminating hundreds of gray wolves -- by aerial gunning and other cruel methods -- while they're still on the endangered species list.

Send your message opposing this disastrous plan.

Send Your Message

Send this message to:

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Dept. of the Interior

Subject:

Dear Mr. Kempthorne,

(Edit Letter Below)

I strongly oppose your proposal to give states a license to kill wolves in areas where big game populations are below targeted levels. This change to the 10(j) rule could lead to the killing of hundreds of wolves, reversing the welcome gains in recovery of this magnificent species in the Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho regions.

I am especially outraged that your proposal would empower states to begin killing wolves before they are taken off the Endangered Species list. Clearly, such killing will impact the wolf population. Yet, your Environmental Assessment fails to make the case that mass killing will not set back  wolf recovery.

Further, the Environmental Assessment is defective in that it does not give scientific justification for changing a 10(j) rule that is currently working well for the livestock industry. Given that wolves have not yet achieved a stable and viable population, this proposal seems aimed more at appeasing Wyoming's plans for wolf management and Idaho sportsmen who have targeted Clearwater-Lolo area wolves for over a year.

I am outraged that this proposal would empower states to kill wolves for eating their natural prey and allow people to kill wolves on public lands if they are suspected of harassing pet dogs and stock animals. To date, such harassment is a very rare occurrence, and does not merit the changing of an existing rule that is meant to conserve a species.

Wolves once thrived in much of the lower 48 states. Today, they reside in only 5 percent of their former range. If there is one place in this country where they should be allowed to flourish, it is in and around Yellowstone -- our nation's oldest park -- and the remote Selway Bitterroot ecosystem in central Idaho. I urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to abide by the rules of the Endangered Species Act, and to protect a wolf population that is a world-renowned symbol of the American West.

I call on you to adopt Alternative A in your Environmental Assessment and take no action on the 10(j) rule. Do not allow the mass killing of wolves in the northern Rockies.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

Your signature will be added from the information you provide.

Taken action before? Just enter your email address here and click 'Send This Message' in this box.

Email

Please remember my info

If you are new to NRDC, simply fill out the fields below before clicking 'Send this Message'.

Complete the following to send this message and sign-up to receive periodic updates. If you have participated before, just type in your email address then submit the form.

Email:*

Title (prefix):