February 14, 2016
This is in response to the Feb. 3 column from U.S. Sen. Ron
Johnson and U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, both of Wisconsin and both of whom
have led congressional efforts to legislatively delist wolves (“Wolf
policy should recognize people”).
Sen. Johnson’s bill served as the
Senate companion to the House bill introduced by Congressman Ribble
earlier last year to “allow the Great Lakes states to continue the
effective work they are doing in managing wolf populations without
undermining the Endangered Species Act.” Yet the horrific slaughter of
wolves directly after delisting in Wisconsin was an abomination. One
would indeed call it “effective work” if the goal was to extirpate the
wolves.
In Wisconsin, the population of wolves was just 800 in 2011. In a matter of three years (since delisting), Wisconsin lost at least 518 wolves to legalized hunting, hounding, trapping and annual unenforced quota overkills. The 518 wolves killed did not include wolves killed at the request of livestock operators for “depredation control” (which was 170 wolves), wolves killed on roadways yearly (25), or wolves killed illegally (estimated conservatively at 100 a year). Factor in annual wolf pup mortality at up to 75 percent, and this has been a disaster of catastrophic proportions. Hardly a wolf management plan integrating the “best available science.” This moral bankruptcy and ineptness is not a way to treat a species recently removed from the Endangered Species Act.
History has demonstrated, time and again, that societal values ultimately determine the survival of a species as controversial as the wolf. The “management” of this species evokes a wide range of public attitudes, polarized views and prolonged contention — a prolonged contention that usually is followed by this sort of mismanagement. There is a reason the courts returned protections to Wisconsin’s wolves, and I believe that reason is quite obvious.
E. August Allen
Milford, Conn.
source
In Wisconsin, the population of wolves was just 800 in 2011. In a matter of three years (since delisting), Wisconsin lost at least 518 wolves to legalized hunting, hounding, trapping and annual unenforced quota overkills. The 518 wolves killed did not include wolves killed at the request of livestock operators for “depredation control” (which was 170 wolves), wolves killed on roadways yearly (25), or wolves killed illegally (estimated conservatively at 100 a year). Factor in annual wolf pup mortality at up to 75 percent, and this has been a disaster of catastrophic proportions. Hardly a wolf management plan integrating the “best available science.” This moral bankruptcy and ineptness is not a way to treat a species recently removed from the Endangered Species Act.
History has demonstrated, time and again, that societal values ultimately determine the survival of a species as controversial as the wolf. The “management” of this species evokes a wide range of public attitudes, polarized views and prolonged contention — a prolonged contention that usually is followed by this sort of mismanagement. There is a reason the courts returned protections to Wisconsin’s wolves, and I believe that reason is quite obvious.
E. August Allen
Milford, Conn.
source
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