The Truth Is Finally Out—Demand That FWS Withdraw Its Wolf Delisting Proposal

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For more than 65 years, Defenders of Wildlife has led the fight to save threatened and endangered species with innovative approaches that help wolves, polar bears, big cats, and other imperiled wildlife survive in an ever-changing world.

About the Petition

Recently, a major development in our efforts to stop the irresponsible proposal to delist nearly all gray wolves in the Lower 48 occurred. An independent peer review board, commissioned to check the facts behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s delisting plan, released its unanimous decision: that the justification for stripping gray wolves of Endangered Species Act protection is not based on the best available science and is filled with numerous omissions and errors.
Please act now and demand that Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to abandon this reckless delisting proposal and allow for the full recovery of gray wolves.

To: Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell

The results of the independent peer review of FWS's proposed rule to remove the gray wolf from the list of threatened and endangered wildlife are in, and reviewers unanimously agreed that FWS did not use the best available science in its decision to delist wolves. Below are just a couple of the reviewers’ criticisms:

• Science used by FWS contains significant interpretation errors, key omissions, and a selective use of evidence.
• FWS got the taxonomy and range of wolves all wrong: Gray wolves may have lived in the Northeast, wolves of the Pacific Northwest are likely distinct from other populations, and Mexican gray wolves historically had a much larger range than FWS claimed.

In response to questions on the gray wolf delisting you once said, "It's about science, and you do what the science says." Clearly, the best available science does not provide a basis for saying that wolves need to be delisted. You now have an opportunity to follow through on your stated principles and those set in the Endangered Species Act; to follow the best available science, wherever it might lead; and to maintain protections for gray wolves until they are fully recovered. We urge you to rescind this proposed rule and allow gray wolves the protection they need to fully recover. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]

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