Groups Petition U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Reclassify #Wolves from Endangered to Threatened Status.

 

By Rachel Tilseth, the founder of Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin

on February 3, 2015

Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin signed a petition along with 21 other regional and national conservation and wolf advocacy organizations, to keep protections in place – asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reclassify wolves from “endangered” to “threatened.” The proposal would ensure federal oversight of wolves, encourage the development of a national recovery plan, and keep funding in place for wolf recovery while permitting states to address specific wolf conflicts.

WODCW believes this threatened status will give non-lethal opportunities to address concerns regarding wolves with livestock producers and maintain the health of wolves. WODCW believes wolves should remain healthy, wild and not harassed from trophy hunts.

“Wildlife groups have said they want to compromise, and have asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place the gray wolf on a less restrictive threatened species list.”

“Rachel Tilseth of Wolves of Douglas County, Wisconsin said there’d be no wolf hunt, but perhaps some help for ranchers and farmers.”

“The states would work with Fish and Wildlife Services closely to solve any problems concerning depredation with livestock, so this is like the best solution for wolves because it opens the door to more communication,” said Tilseth. From WPR interview read full story here:

http://www.pricecountydaily.com/news/regional/wildlife-groups-push-to-relist-gray-wolves-as-threatened/article_15d9e04e-a7d1-11e4-b174-6b73503f0589.html?mode=jqm

WODCW believes this a compromise that will save wolves from being delisted altogether. Members of congress are proposing legislation to delist wolves in 4 states and attach a Ryder to it preventing judicial review. Read full news article update here:

https://news.vice.com/article/members-of-congress-want-to-remove-the-gray-wolf-from-the-endangered-species-act

Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin believes wolves are not out of the woods yet and they need your help.

Action alert:

Please call all your US senate and House of Representatives and ask them not to sponsor any legislation to delist wolves and to #KeepWolvesListed
Who are my representatives: https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup
View full press release from The Humane Society of the U.S. Here: http://m.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2015/01/esa-threatened-gray-wolves-012715.html

History of WI’s wolf status from a WI DNR Wolf Progress reports:

“The Wisconsin DNR reclassified wolves from endangered to threatened in 1999, delisted to protected wild animals on 1 August 2004, and designated a game species on 2 April 2012. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service federally downlisted wolves to threatened from 1 April 2003 to 31 January 2005 relisted thereafter, delisted from 12 March 2007 to 29 September 2008, relisted thereafter, delisted on 3 May 2009 to 1 July 2009, relisted thereafter, and delisted wolves again on 27 January 2012.. The 1999 Wisconsin Wolf Management Plan and 2007 Wolf Plan Addendum determined wolf management in the state, and this report follows the outline of those plans to describe wolf management activities. Act 169 signed by the Governor on 2 April 2012 designated a wolf hunting and trapping season, and this report summarizes efforts toward developing the public harvest.”

From: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Wildlifehabitat/wolf/documents/ERReport143.pdf

*Great Lakes wolves were ordered back on the Federal Endangered Species list on December 19, 2014

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