Stop Wildlife Services' Brutal War on Wolves
Another young wolf is dead, gunned down by a government sniper.
It's a tragic story that's become sadly all too familiar - a young wolf set off from his pack in Washington State on an epic, wandering 700 mile journey in search of a mate. After being collared in February, he wandered east, improbably surviving the wolf-killing fields of Idaho. And then on Sept. 29 he was gunned down near Judith Gap, Montana by Wildlife Services -- the deadly federal killing program that wiped out more than 3 million wild animals last year.
It's a horrific pattern. When younger wolves come of age, they often leave their pack and set off looking for a mate and new territory. Wandering into states like Idaho and Montana, where Wildlife Services uses taxpayer dollars to exterminate wolves, is a cruel ending for these wolves. The young Washington wolf had covered hundreds of miles from a part of Washington where wolves are still state-protected, to Montana where wolves have no federal or state protections, only to be gunned down by Wildlife Services. This wolf is just one example of the potential fate that wolves in Idaho and Montana face every day.
This killing must stop.
Take action today -- urge Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, to direct Wildlife Services to end its war on wolves and stop the killing.
Dear Secretary Vilsack,
I'm writing to urge you to immediately instruct the USDA's Wildlife Services to halt the killing of any more gray wolves. As you know, America's wolves were once hunted to the brink of extinction. Only after decades of effort and millions of dollars in taxpayer money have they been able to regain a foothold in limited parts of their former range. Killing wolves in Idaho and Montana risks the death of dispersing wolves coming from other states where they are protected.
[Your comment will be added here]
This is even more important when studies have shown that killing wolves often leads to greater conflicts between wolves and livestock. There is no justifiable reason for allowing the killing of these wild and imperiled parts of our natural heritage to continue. Please, order Wildlife Services to end the killing of gray wolves today and to implement a program of dedicated non-lethal wolf management.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
