Wolves in the United States were the subject of brutal and reckless attempts to drive them from the landscape in the last century. When they were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1974, they were gone in all but one state in the continental US. The protections of the Endangered Species Act have allowed gray wolves to recover in some parts of the country.
I am terribly alarmed to learn that the Trump Administration is planning a rule that would remove these vital protections from still-recovering gray wolves in the lower 48 states.
Without these protections, states will have no limits on the management of this iconic and maligned species.
In Wyoming, where wolves once had Endangered Species Act protections, they are treated like nuisance animals and can be killed without limit any time of the year.
In Wisconsin, the state has reportedly made plans to eradicate more than fifty percent of the wolves in its borders if Endangered Species Act protections are lifted.
These same stories of killing instead of conservation could play out across the United States where wolves are trying desperately to re-establish their rightful habitats.
Please reconsider this unscientific plan and instead develop a wolf recovery plan to bring these majestic animals back.
