DEC, 2011 "In The Crosshairs"
UPDATE ON WESTERN GREAT LAKES WOLF DELISTING
Yesterday the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced
that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will be issuing a
final rule removing gray wolves from the list of endangered and
threatened species in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and in
portions of adjoining states. Safari Club International (SCI) lauds
Secretary Salazar for again attempting to return these recovered
wolves to state management.
This rule will become final 30 days after it is published in the
Federal Register and at that point state game agencies will
be tasked with the future management of gray wolves. There are over
4,000 wolves in the Western Great Lakes population segment, a number
which far exceeds the species’ recovery goals. The FWS and
states achieved those wolf recovery goals over a decade ago.
This is the FWS’s third attempt to delist these recovered wolves.
The previous attempts were reversed after the delistings were
challenged by anti-hunting groups and overturned by federal courts.
“While the announcement of the delisting of wolves in the Western
Great Lakes is a positive step, the FWS has attempted to delist
these recovered wolves twice before, only to be thwarted by
environmental radicals who used litigation as a weapon to the
detriment of sportsmen and species,” stated SCI President Kevin
Anderson. “Safari Club fully expects the same environmental groups
to once again employ costly and dilatory litigation tactics to
attempt to stop this reasonable delisting of the recovered gray
wolf.”
SCI has gone to court to defend each previous attempt by the FWS
to delist the Western Great Lakes wolves and will likely do so again
in any future litigation challenge to this latest delisting.
SCI has defended hunters in numerous court cases over wolves since
2001 and is the uncontested leader advocating for wolf delisting.
SCI strongly supports returning wolf management to the states and
successfully lobbied for federal legislation to prevent legal
challenges to the delisting of recovered wolves in Montana and
Idaho. SCI continues to advocate for the same legislative solution
to be adopted to prevent legal challenges to the Western Great Lakes
delisting.
“If the Endangered Species Act worked as intended, the delisting
of recovered species would be as easy as listing them,” stated SCI
Chief Communications Officer Larry Rudolph. “SCI will continue to
advocate for much needed ESA reforms so species, like the gray wolf,
do not find themselves stuck on the endangered species list long
after recovery is achieved.”
If you would like to help SCI keep wolves delisted and oppose
radical environmentalists please consider donating to the SCI's
Hunter Defense Fund by clicking
Here.
Contributions to the Hunter Defense Fund go
directly to SCI’s litigation and legislative efforts to Protect the
Freedom to Hunt!