Half of Idaho's wolves gone in a year, thanks to Obama's Sect'y of the Interior [View all]

[villager]

thought this recent letter from Defenders of Wildlife was worth posting, as a reminder that this administration is every bit as lousy at "protecting" wildlife as all its predecessors:

Dear Villager,

It was one year ago tomorrow: the day that the fate of wolves in Idaho was handed over to state officials.

It was a deal endorsed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- and has resulted in the elimination of almost half of Idaho's wolves.

Take action now: Write to Interior Secretary Salazar urging him to immediately hold Idaho officials accountable for their extreme anti-wolf policies.

When Secretary Salazar brokered a deal with Congress last year to strip federal protections from wolves, he did so with assurances from Idaho officials that they would manage these animals at numbers between 518 and 732 wolves.

But even before Congress handed wolf management back to the state, Governor Otter and his Idaho Fish and Game Commission broke that promise -- moving forward with a plan to manage wolves down to a minimum population of just 150.

It is clear that as a result of delisting, Idaho is pursuing a race to the bottom in wolf management. In just one year, 400 wolves have been killed in the state -- and state officials have already moved forward on making it easier to kill even more wolves.

If this trend continues, Idaho officials will be unraveling one of our nation's greatest conservation success stories: the restoration of Western wolves.

Take action now: Write to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and urge him to hold Idaho officials to their original promise to manage wolves as wildlife -- not vermin to be eliminated.

The fateful delisting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Congress has already had dire consequences for wolves in Idaho -- and officials want to make it even easier to kill more wolves in the state.

But these extreme wolf-killing policies will have lasting effects on the recovery of wolves across the West, if the state's war on wolves is allowed to continue unabated. If wolf populations in Idaho fall to dangerously low levels, it will jeopardize wolf recovery in states like Oregon, Washington, California, Utah and Colorado.

Urge Interior Secretary Salazar to stand up for the recovery of wolves in the American West and hold Idaho officials accountable for their extreme anti-wolf policies.

One year ago, Idaho finally got its chance to manage its wolves.

Since then, they have failed to manage these animals as the ecologically important wildlife that they are. Instead, state officials have pulled a bait-and-switch on wolf management planning. By abandoning their original commitments to the Service and pandering to anti-wolf extremists -- Idaho officials appear to be pursuing the ultimate goal of near decimation of wolves in the state.

We can't allow this to continue. Please take action today and help us reach our goal of sending 50,000 messages to Secretary Salazar.

Jamie Rappaport Clark

Sincerely,

Jamie Rappaport Clark
President