The federal Wildlife Services agency, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the number one wolf-killer in the United States.
Now, even in the face of a court ruling restoring protections to these iconic animals, they want to expand their wolf-killing operations.
Wildlife Services plans to work with Idaho officials to kill up to 80 percent of the wolves in central Idaho by land and from air. Their plan also includes killing entire packs -- including gassing helpless wolf pups in their dens -- and surgically sterilizing alpha wolf pairs.
Help save Idaho's wolves. Urge Obama's Secretary of Agriculture to cancel the planned wolf slaughter and rein in Wildlife Services.
Dear Secretary Vilsack,
I am writing today to speak out against Wildlife Services' outrageous plans to drastically expand the types of lethal methods used to kill federally protected wolves.
[Your personal comments will be inserted here.]
The latest plan outlined in Wildlife Services' Draft Environmental Assessment Gray Wolf Damage Management in Idaho discards science-based management and harkens back to the days of the agency's wholesale slaughter of wolves and other native predators.
The plan calls for killing off entire packs by tracking and shooting them from the air, gassing pups and their mothers in their dens and even calls for alpha wolf pairs to be surgically sterilized.
The gassing of pups in their dens and sterilization are inappropriate for a species listed under the Endangered Species Act. These methods do not represent responsible wildlife management for the 21st century. In addition, the use of gas is not even currently legal and likely would not be approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the Environmental Protection Agency.
The wolf-killing methods outlined in the Environmental Assessment are inappropriate and conflict with Wildlife Services' mission to "create a balance that allows people and wildlife to coexist peacefully."
I don't want my tax dollars to be used to kill native wildlife under this misguided and archaic scheme. Wildlife Services should instead reduce wildlife conflicts and encourage peaceful coexistence with predators by using and promoting nonlethal tools and best management practices to preemptively reduce livestock loss.
Thank you for considering my comments on this important matter.
