Our public service announcement for this week comes from the NRDC, of which I am a member:The reintroduction of the gray wolf into Yellowstone National Park and surrounding wild lands, where they had once been wiped out, is one of the greatest success stories of the Endangered Species Act. And our tax dollars helped make it happen. Today, some 1,500 of these magnificent, endangered animals roam the Northern Rockies, where they have played a key role in reviving both the region’s environment and its tourist-based economy.
Unbelievably, the Bush Administration, bowing to pressure from Wyoming and a relatively few vocal ranchers and elk hunters, has just issued a new rule that allows the mass killing of gray wolves. Instead of doing its job to protect animals on the Endangered Species List, this administration is preparing to slaughter them. Even worse, it plans to issue a second rule that would strip wolves of federal protection altogether.
www.CallOffTheGuns.org
Using our tax dollars, the federal government would trap, hunt and gun down entire packs of wolves -- even from airplanes. Under either rule, hundreds of wolves could be killed. It’s madness.
Here are the facts: While some hunters complain about wolves killing elk -- their natural prey -- elk populations are at all-time highs across the Northern Rockies. And ranchers on private land already have the right to kill wolves that harass their livestock. No matter. The Bush Administration is determined to allow the killing of wolves -- and to reverse an environmental success story paid for by the American people -- just to satisfy politically powerful constituencies.
There’s still time to call off the guns. That’s where you come in. Go to CallOffTheGuns.org and tell your U.S. Representative to oppose the Bush wolf-killing rule.
Tell your elected representative this is total bullshit.
I am sick and tired of BushCo giving in to special interests. Please do what you can regarding this important wildlife AND environmental issue, even if its only sending your Congressional rep's NRDC's email. Every little bit helps..it surely can't hurt. The sickening Irony is this: The wolf is doing well enough to now remove it from the endangered species list because of the work done with our tax dollars to reintroduce them into Yellowstone National Park. The revised rule is aimed not at protecting cattle or sheep but at protecting elk and deer for hunters. As my father, an avid hunter, would say..this is a truly fuckwitted move by BushCo. Read an OpEd piece on the NYT website today about this issue and how friggin retarded their rationale is here.
Tags: Gray Wolf, Environment, endangered species
