"US lifts protections for gray wolves, despite critics who say it’s too soon" June 08, 2013
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Obama administration on Friday proposed lifting most remaining federal protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that would end four decades of recovery efforts, but that some scientists also criticized as premature.
The gray wolf’s range once stretched across most of North America (Gary Kramer/AP).
They are magnificent looking creatures, aren't they? They once stretched all across North America, huh?
State and US agencies have spent $117 million restoring the predators since they were added to the endangered species list in 1974. Today about 6,100 wolves roam parts of the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes where protections already have been lifted.
With Friday’s announcement, the administration signaled it’s ready to move on: The wolf has rebounded from near-extermination, balance has been restored to parts of the ecosystem, and hunters in some states already are free to shoot the animals under state oversight.
In a way, balance never needs to be restored. Most species of this planet have gone extinct, and so will we. Mother Nature does an amazing job of re-calibrating and balancing.
But prominent scientists and many lawmakers in Congress want more. They say protections for wolves need to remain in force so the animals can expand beyond the parts of 10 states they now occupy.
Lawsuits challenging the administration’s plan are almost certain.
The gray wolf’s range once stretched across most of North America, before government-sponsored trapping and poisoning left just one small pocket of them, in Minnesota.
That seems to be their solution to everything. Got a problem? Kill it!
In the past several years, after the Great Lakes population swelled and wolves were reintroduced to the Northern Rockies, protections were lifted in states where the vast majority of the animals now live: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and portions of Oregon, Washington, and Utah.
Under the administration’s plan, protections would remain only for a fledgling population of Mexican gray wolves in the desert Southwest. The proposal will be subject to a public comment period and a final decision made within a year.
While the wolf’s resurgence is likely to continue elsewhere — multiple packs roam portions of Washington and Oregon, and individual wolves have been spotted in Colorado, California, Utah, the Dakotas, and the Northeast — US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe indicated it’s unrealistic to think the clock can be turned back entirely.
‘‘Science is an important part of this decision, but really the key is the policy question of when is a species recovered,’’ he said. ‘‘Does the wolf have to occupy all the habitat that is available to it in order for it to be recovered? Our answer to that question is no.’’
Hunting and agriculture groups wary of increasing wolf attacks on livestock and big game welcomed the government announcement.
Yeah, I was wondering about that.
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