24 January 2014
Posted by: Melanie Gade |
Update on Frank Church Lawsuit: Earlier this month, Defenders and several other nonprofits filed suit against
the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Fish and Game for hiring a trapper to
exterminate two wolf packs in the remote Frank Church-River of No
Return Wilderness in Idaho.
©Chagares Photography
Unfortunately, last Friday a federal judge in Idaho denied our
request to end the program. Jonathan Proctor, Defenders’ program
director for the Rockies and Plains said: “We are extremely disappointed
that the court refused to put an immediate stop to Idaho’s wolf
eradication program… [k]illing wolves to artificially increase elk herds
for hunters is no way to manage a wilderness area.” Defenders and our
coalition partners have appealed the district court’s decision and
requested an emergency injunction with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit. We expect a ruling from the 9
th Circuit sometime after next Wednesday. Sadly, as of January 15
th,
nine wolves had already been killed, and the trapper has already set
many traps that will likely result in deaths of additional wolves and
possibly other native wildlife species.
This PBS Nature episode,
River of No Return showcases
the rugged beauty of the Frank Church Wilderness and the exact wolf
packs being killed by the trapper now. Even though much damage is
already done, Defenders will
continue to fight
this egregious program because this wolf pack extermination effort sets
a horrible precedent for state management of wolves in federal
wilderness areas.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment