Great Conservation Success Story in Jeopardy
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The federal government is expected to
announce plans to propose to lift endangered species protections for wolves in
the Northern Rocky Mountains tomorrow. The plans are premature, considering
that most of the states responsible for wolf management once delisting occurs
either do not have management plans or have plans that will hasten the killing
of wolves, said Defenders of Wildlife.
"Americans have made a significant commitment to recovering the wolf over
the past 30 years," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of
Defenders of Wildlife. "Unfortunately, the Bush administration is planning to
turn back the clock on wolf recovery by prematurely passing management
responsibility to states such as Idaho that has expressed a clear intention of
immediately exterminating all of the wolves in the state."
Noting that the Idaho state legislature passed, and Gov. Kempthorne
signed, a 2001 memorial calling for the eradication of wolves in Idaho "by any
means necessary," Defenders said handing over wolf management duties to the
state could be giving Idaho a license to kill wolves. Compounding these
concerns is a ballot initiative sponsored by the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition
that would remove wolves from the state of Idaho by whatever means necessary.
In addition, the ballot measure would mandate all state agencies to
discontinue all wolf recovery efforts in the state, list wolves as an
unprotected predator, close the governor's Office of Species Conservation and
rescind approval of the Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.
"It is clear that the anti-wolf forces in Idaho are still threatening to
use any means possible to eradicate wolves from the state," said Clark. "This
would be a very unhappy ending to a great conservation success story. Under
these circumstances, it is inappropriate for the federal government to
consider proposing to delist wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains at this
time."
Defenders of Wildlife supports turning over wolf management to the states
once the populations reach sustainable recovery levels. But those states need
to have management plans that will continue to maintain wolf populations in a
responsible manner. To date, only Montana and Oregon have management plans
that will accomplish this, but there are no known wolf populations in Oregon
at this time. Other states, including Wyoming, Utah and Washington do not
have adequate conservation management plans in place.
"If the government does delist the wolves in the Rocky Mountains, it will
be the state's responsibility to manage them effectively so that they do not
decline to the point where re-listing is necessary," said Clark. "At this
point, of the states with wolves, only Montana is ready to accept this
responsibility."
Defenders of Wildlife is recognized as one of the nation's most
progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 490,000
members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on
endangered species issues.
SOURCE Defenders of Wildlife
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Related links:
http://www.defenders.org
CONTACT:
Cindy Hoffman of Defenders of Wildlife,
+1-202-772-3255
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