#Vote4Wilderness (Please RT)

BE A VOICE FOR MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES RIGHT NOW!

Come join us and be a voice for our diminishing Mexican Gray wolves. 
There are less than 90 left in the wild. CWWC will be heading to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
on the 13th of August for a hearing to be a voice letting USFW know that our Mexican Gray wolves
are essential and they need better protection. 
If you want to join in this fight, we will be carpooling and caravanning. We will also take written comments
with us if you cannot make it, but remember that a physical appearance is best.
We will meet in Colorado Springs at the 8th Street WalMart at 6:30 AM.
I will be in a black Dodge 2012 Ram pickup truck at the west end of the parking lot adjacent to 8th Street.
We are planning to spend the night down there and come home the next morning after breakfast.
There are several motels/hotels in the area. If you plan to go or need more information,
please email us at: tours@wolfeducation.org.
If you want to make an email comment, please send your full name, address, and date as a heading
and your comment below that to tours@wolfeducation.org. We will collect these and take it to the table.
You can read the link below to gather information about the latest issue regarding the proposal.
For those who are on our Facebook, you can make comment there as well.

This is your chance to be a voice.
They NEED YOU now more than ever!

Sincerely,
Darlene Kobobel
Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center
719-687-9742
tours@wolfeducation.org

The rule change and the hearings on mexicanwolves.org

. Here's the link to  
http://www.mexicanwolves.org/index.php/news/1278/51/Act-Now-US-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service-Proposes-to-Doom-Mexican-Wolves
 
And here's the link to just the hearing info, with a link for carpooling
http://www.mexicanwolves.org/index.php/news/1266/51/Save-the-Lobo-in-Hon-Dah-Pinetop-Aug-11-and-Truth-or-Consequences-Aug-13

From Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center 

Join Defenders of Wildlife at Public Hearings to Determine the Future of Mexican Gray #Wolves

 

Join us for a Crucial Public Hearing to Determine the Future of Mexican Gray Wolves

Join us on either Monday, August 11^th or Wednesday August 13^th as we stand for Mexican gray wolves - these wolves are doomed to a slow extinction if this proposal is finalized. Their last hope is for you, and people just like you, to stand between them and changes that could drive them toward extinction.

Monday, August 11th, 2014 2:00pm - 4:00pm – Informational session 6:00pm – 9:00pm - Public Hearing Hon-Dah Conference Center 777 Highway 260 Pinetop, AZ 85935

Wednesday, August 13^th, 2014
2:00pm - 4:00pm – Informational session
6:00pm – 9:00pm - Public Hearing
Civic/Convention Center
400 W 4th Ave
Truth or Consequences, NM 87901

 

 

Click this link to RSVP the event! 

#Wolf Weekly Wrap Up by Defenders of Wildlife

01 August 2014

Posted by: Melanie Gade 

   

Reprieve for Wolves in Idaho’s Frank Church Wilderness: We’re sure all of the wolf advocates reading this blog will remember earlier this year when Idaho Department of Fish and Game – with no public notice – hired a trapper to exterminate wolf packs in central Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Defenders and our conservation partners took this issue to court, asserting that the program disregarded IDFG’s own policy on predators, violated wilderness policies, failed to appropriately consider the environmental impacts of this action, and was conducted without appropriate public input. We were successful in getting the trapper to pack out of the area at the end of January.

But still more good news came last week! On July 24th, IDFG submitted a sworn statement to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asserting that it will forgo any wolf control actions in the wilderness area prior to November 1st 2015, and will make known any plans to do so after this date. This year long truce offers a new opportunity to seek a permanent end to wolf eradication in wilderness areas. In response, Suzanne Stone, Defenders’ regional representative who has worked nearly three decades to restore wolves in Idaho, said: “The Frank Church is both the largest forested wilderness area and a core habitat for gray wolves in the western United States. Wolves belong here as they have made the ‘Frank’ truly wild again. Ensuring healthy wolf populations here is critical for the recovery of wolves throughout the entire northwestern region.”

Help us continue to fight Idaho’s persecution of wolves.

A New Rule Will Impede Recovering Mexican Gray Wolves: Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to change the rules about how Mexican gray wolves are managed in the wild. Although the draft rule could help the current population by providing more space to roam and more sites for releases, it also would give landowners greater permission to kill wolves on their property, not exactly what this highly endangered population needs. The proposed rule would also block the establishment of the two additional populations which are needed for recovery. In response Eva Sargent, Defenders’ Director of Southwest Programs said: “The new proposal is based on politics, not science. When the best science tells you that the population can’t recover unless killing is reduced, it doesn’t make sense to come up with more reasons to do the opposite.” We still have a chance to tell the Service to improve proposal before it is finalized. For those of you in Arizona and New Mexico, we hope you will consider attending one or both of the Service’s public hearings on this topic later in August. We need to let the Service know that the public wants full recovery of Mexican wolves!

Click here for additional details/registration information about the public hearings.

Confirmed: Wandering Wolf OR-7 Has Pups! We’d heard the good news that OR-7, the first wolf to cross into California since 1924, found a mate and may have fathered pups. But last week we got proof that OR-7’s wolf family is alive and well. Remote trail cameras installed by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service captured some adorable photos of OR-7’s wolf pups. These pups signify the first known wolf reproduction in the Oregon Cascades since the mid-1940s. These pups give wolf advocates great hope that we may continue to see wolves disperse further into the Oregon Cascades and perhaps down into California as well.

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Wolves of the West: A live animal demonstration at the Estes Park Museum

For the Trail-Gazette

Posted:   07/30/2014

Wolves are magnificent animals. (Courtesy Photo / Estes Park Tral Gazette)

 

Once wolves roamed Estes Park, what happened to them? What can we learn from their story as a mistrusted and misunderstood native to the Rocky Mountains? On Saturday, August 9 beginning at 2 p.m., educators from the W.O. L. F. Sanctuary will discuss these topics and introduce lives wolves safely to the audience. Cost is $5 for children or museum members and $8 for adults and non-members. Open to all ages. Pay the day of the program, no registration required.

The Estes Park Museum, located at 200 Fourth Street, is open Monday through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 until 5 p.m. The mission of the Estes Park Museum is to collect, interpret and preserve local history, as well as to present exhibits, programs and events for the education and benefit of residents and visitors of all ages.

For more information call the Estes Park

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Opinion: Wolf management should rely on science

Posted: Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Sue Ann Stephenson-Love

 

Accepting wolves back into our landscape, after having eradicated them in the 1920s should not be such a challenge for us. Wolves are an essential part our ecosystem, placed there by nature to keep the system in healthy balance. In spite of this, we bear witness to anti-wolf propaganda and false scare tactics, that too often meet with success in influencing governmental decisions that jeopardize a healthy, functional, and sustainable population.
It was especially encouraging for me to attend the recent “Speak for Wolves” event in Gardiner, Mont. This was the second annual of its kind, the first having been in Washington, D.C. Attendees came from all over the U.S. and shared their desire to see wolves managed in a manner consistent with nature’s plan — by science and not politics. There were over 16 well-informed speakers and several educational films during the two-day event. (See “Speak for Wolves” website for schedule.) Wolves were the primary subject, but speakers touched on other wildlife issues and effective methods which eliminate conflict between livestock and predators.

The dominant message was the importance of relying on facts, science and education to achieve broader understanding and acceptance of all the species essential to the long term health of our Montana landscape. We can and must work together to ensure that the gray wolf can fully return to its rightful place in nature’s beautifully designed scheme. This will require time and our continued dedication speak out on their behalf.

Sue Ann Stephenson-Love
Great Falls

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Increase in wolf hunting permits, higher harvest level set for 2014 in MN

Photo by Paul Sundberg A pair of gray wolf pups pause in the early-morning sunshine near Brimson, Minn. 

 

By John Myers on Jul 30, 2014 

 

DULUTH, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Thursday announced the state’s 2014 wolf hunting and trapping season, adding 500 additional licenses over last year’s total and increasing the number of wolves that can be killed by nearly 14 percent.

 

The DNR said it will make 3,800 hunting and trapping licenses available for the coming season, up from 3,500 last year, and will allow up to 250 wolves to be killed, up from 220 last year.

The DNR said Thursday that a winter population survey showed the state’s wolf population is stable and can sustain a more liberal hunting and trapping harvest, although the total number of licenses is still well under the 6,000 issued in 2012.

The latest DNR estimate is that 470 wolf packs and 2,423 wolves lived in Minnesota’s wolf range this past winter, 212 more wolves than estimated on the survey conducted in early 2013.

“Estimates show a stable population with no significant change from the 2013 estimate of 2,211 wolves,” said Dan Stark, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist, in a statement announcing the wolf season. “We will continue to evaluate the wolf population annually to ensure the wolf population remains well established across northern and central Minnesota.”

The move to kill more wolves is likely to please some farmers and hunters who say too many wolves roam the northern third of the state, killing too many livestock and whitetail deer. Others say the season helps keep wolves in check while offering hunters and trappers an added trophy to pursue.
“I think the numbers look very good from the standpoint of harvest targets. I think they are paying attention to the harvest level, following that, not being too conservative or too liberal,” said Mark Johnson, director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association. “The DNR also is starting to target the harvest to where the most problems are occurring and that’s a good thing.”

But the increase in permits also has angered wolf supporters who have been working to overturn the state’s recreational wolf hunt since it began in 2012, shortly after federal Endangered Species Act protections were removed.

“People need to know that no matter what they say, the DNR and the governor clearly don’t have the best interest of wolves in mind, to be having another season, with more wolves killed, so quickly after they were on the endangered species list,” said Maureen Hackett, a founder of Howling for Wolves. “The DNR has no idea what kind of mortality wolves are seeing for poaching and vehicles or other problems… so they really don’t know how many wolves are out there.”

Hackett said shooting or trapping individual wolves out of packs disrupts the pack social order and may end up causing more conflicts by dispersing the individual members.

“More than 60 percent of the wolves killed the first year were 2 years old or younger. They’re killing puppies,” Hackett added.

Last year, 3,434 hunters and trappers killed 237 wolves for a 6.9 percent success rate. In 2012, the state’s first ever wolf hunt, 6,127 hunters and trappers killed 413 wolves for a 6.7 percent success rate.

The first 2014 hunting season will run Nov. 8-23, the same as the northern deer hunting season. A second hunting season is set for Nov. 29 to Jan. 31, the same dates for the wolf trapping season. The seasons will close early if harvest quotas are reached.

Hunters and trappers will apply for 2014 wolf licenses, which are awarded in a lottery, starting Aug. 1. The statewide bag limit is one wolf and licenses are not zone-specific. Lottery winners will receive a wolf hunting booklet with their notification. Wolf license fees are $30 for residents and $250 for nonresidents.

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Nature Center Notes: Gray wolves on the rise again

Jordon Crawford July 31, 2014

If you’ve visited the WNC Nature Center, you’ve likely seen a variety of animals that are commonly seen in and around your own backyard, such as clever raccoons, slithering corn snakes, and even an elusive bobcat. But the center also houses several species that no longer call Western North Carolina home. You won’t see mountain lions or gray wolves prowling around in a wild Appalachian forest, but have you ever wondered why?

In the 1800s, gray wolves inhabited over two-thirds of the United States, including parts of the Appalachians. They preyed on large populations of deer, elk and other grazing mammals. Unfortunately, with a growing human population and the expansion of agriculture and farming, wolf populations dropped drastically in many parts of the country. Farmland replaced the wolves’ natural habitat, and predator-control programs were aimed at getting rid of wolves to protect people and livestock. After a while, gray wolves only remained in Alaska and Minnesota.

Around the middle of the 20th century, the government began to reintroduce gray wolves into wild areas such as Yellowstone National Park and other protected lands, and wolf populations began to grow again. After several decades, wolf populations were large enough to survive on their own, and their range expanded to several northern states and parts of Canada. Now, gray wolves are no longer a protected species due to the success of reintroduction programs.

You may have recently heard some gray wolf-related news from the Nature Center; the Center recently added two wolf pups to their animal family. At just over 3 months old, the pups are playful, active, and adorable, and they are now on display in the gray wolf habitat!

See www.wncnaturecenter.com for updates.

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Wolf of the Day

 

The real Black Beauty

Florida preserve offers a chance to mingle with the wolves for $25

• The preserve is home to 30 gray, Arctic and British Columbian wolves
• Some wolf experts worry that Seacrest Wolf Preserve may be allowing wolves and humans to get too close
• A worker was attacked and killed by a pack of wolves in 2012 at a wildlife park in Sweden

By Associated Press

Published: 1 August 2014 

Owners of Seacrest Wolf Preserve in northern Florida have been raising their wolves to become accustomed to humans - and for a $25 fee, visitors can mingle with a pack. Cynthia and Wayne Watkins' preserve is billed as the largest such facility in the Southeast. It lets wolves become ambassadors for their species, they say, and helps people become advocates for wolves.

Cynthia Watkins kisses a wolf inside the Seacrest Wolf Preserve in Chipley, Florida

'We offer one of the rarest opportunities in the world for humans to see wolves up close and personal,' Cynthia Watkins says. The Watkinses estimate that Seacrest, near the small town of Chipley, gets 10,000 visitors a year. But some wolf experts worry that Seacrest may be allowing wolves and humans to get too close.

Dave Mech, a senior research assistant with the U.S. Geological Survey who has spent decades studying wolves, says allowing visitors to enter a wolf pack enclosure isn't safe. 'They are still unpredictable because they are wild animals,' he said. 'Wolves are not like dogs. Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years and that unpredictability and wildness is taken out of them because of the breeding.'
A worker was attacked and killed by a pack of wolves in 2012 at a wildlife park in Sweden. A Canadian biologist was killed by wolves at the Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Preserve in 1996.

Wayne Watkins kneels near a wolf inside the Seacrest Wolf Preserve - home to 30 gray, Arctic and British Columbian wolves

Seacrest requires visitors to watch an educational video before they interact with the wolves, has trained wolf handlers on hand during every tour and doesn't allow children under six to take the tour, Watkins said. 'We are not some little roadside zoo,' she added.

The Seacrest preserve grew out of her passion for raising huskies, the sled dogs with a wolf-like appearance. That evolved into providing a home for wolves in need of relocation and later into a captive breeding program.

The 30 gray, Arctic and British Columbian wolves, with names including Utah, Rio, Liberty and Spirit Prince, are separated into packs. Each pack has several acres to roam. On a recent afternoon, Cynthia Watkins sat on a log bench surrounded by seven howling gray wolves. Watkins joined in their howling and pet and kissed each of them.

A wolf rests inside the Seacrest Wolf Preserve in Chipley, Florida - visitors can get up close and personal for $25

Seacrest also provides wolves to education programs around the country.
Pat Goodman, curator of Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana, has worked with wolves for more than 40 years, and said Seacrest has a good reputation for raising healthy wolves that serve as ambassadors for their species in places around the country.

'Little Red Riding Hood was wrong and the wolf is not the bad guy but indeed a very important keystone species'

Cynthia Watkins

In Florida, thousands of miles from many of the wolves' native habitat, Seacrest uses spray misters, large ponds and lots of shade inside the wolves' densely wooded enclosures to help the animals deal with the heat and humidity.

The preserve is still recovering from a major flood in late April when heavy rains burst a dam on the property, washing out the wolf enclosures. The flood led to the death of one British Columbian wolf that escaped from its enclosure. It was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy after an extensive search for the animal led by Florida's Fish and Wild Conservation Commission.

Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the deputy shot the wolf out of concern for public safety after officers spent days tracking the animal and trying to trap it without killing it. He said officers couldn't get close enough to use a tranquilizer dart. 'You are talking about a 90 to 100-pound wolf escaping and we really were out of options,' Kirkland said.
The Watkins are petitioning Gov. Rick Scott to start an investigation into the death of the wolf.

The preserve has finished the most-crucial repairs needed to ensure the safety of the wolves, but more work needs to be done, she said. Seacrest has received donations and messages of support from around the world for the $100,000 rebuilding effort.
'All I could do was cry when I looked at how beautiful each enclosure was and how well thought out it was,' Watkins said. 'The flood was extremely devastating.'

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