Indiana cannot regulate tigers, #wolves as pets

Associated Press

July 2, 2015

(Photo: Matt Kryger/The Star)

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources won’t regulate more than 30 wild animals under a court ruling that stripped its authority over legally owned creatures.
The ruling is part of a lawsuit over whether DNR could regulate or ban the hunting of captive deer. It has surprised animal advocates and is raising concern about a lack of regulation.
The Journal Gazette reports the DNR previously had issued special permits to people who owned wild animals as pets. The permit included extensive enclosure and care requirements for the animals and gave the agency inspection powers.
DNR Spokesman Phil Bloom says the agency had regulated the animals through administrative rules. The permits were issued for animals including venomous snakes, black bears, alligators, bobcats, Gila monsters, wolves, tigers and cougars.

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Feds say no to "threatened" status for grey #wolves

By John Myers on Jun 30, 2015 

 

DULUTH, Minn. -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it will not consider listing grey wolves as "threatened'' under the Endangered Species Act.

The suggestion had come from wolf protection groups who say the status would be a compromise between the current, fully endangered status and proposals in Congress to delist wolves entirely.

Wolves were delisted in 2012 but a late 2014 court order has restored federal protections for wolves in the Great Lakes area and in most western states.

The agency, however, determined the request was a "non-substantial petition."

"We are disappointed in the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to consider this middle-ground approach to wolf management,'' said Michael Markarian, chief program and policy officer of the Humane Society of the United States. "A threatened listing is a reasonable compromise to this contentious issue, and it retains some federal protection for wolves, while providing more flexibility to the states in dealing with the occasional problem wolf."

Bills have been introduced in Congress this year that would override the court opinion and remove all federal protections for wolves. They so far have not passed.

Until other action occurs, wolves remain federally protected as endangered in most areas and threatened in Minnesota. The distinction allows wolves in Minnesota to be trapped by federal wildlife experts near where livestock have been killed.

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#KeepWolvesListed

Take Action To Protect Wolves

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

on July 1, 2015

Take Action Now Wolves are under assault in the guise of an interior appropriations bill with a rider that calls for delisting wolves. There are also several anti wolf bills in congress to this date.

“The judicial branch exists to provide oversight and review of our nation’s laws, and the idea that this Republican appropriations bill would try to circumvent that constitutionally critical process is wrong,” McCollum said.

Here’s what you can do to #KeepWolvesProtected
^If you are on Twitter
tweet your reps in both the senate and the house instructions are in this blog http://wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com/2015/06/20/action-alert-tweetstorm-at-congress-keepwolveslisted-and-protect-the-esa/
^Call both of your members of congress, in the house and the senate https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup
^Call the secretary of the Interior
phone number 202-208-3100
http://www.doi.gov/public/contact-us.cfm
^Call the White House
Call the President
PHONE NUMBERS
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitor’s Office: 202-456-2121
^Email the President
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

Wolves are not fully recovered in the lower USA. Wolves are Keystone Predators that are essential for the health of our ecosystems. Wolves are not a major threat to livestock or humans.

It’s up to all of us to take action to #KeepWolvesListed Now #ActionAlert
WODCW statement on a recent USF&WS rejection of a compromise petition http://wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com/2015/06/30/u-s-fish-and-wildlife-service-denies-threatened-status-for-gray-wolf/

Photograph by Ron Niebrugge
 

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#Wolves of the Day ( a MUST see!)

  Two young arctic wolves hugging by Tambako The Jaguar   

Fate of red wolves, endangered in the United States, remains uncertain

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A red wolf.

Staff Writer

Erik Stokstad

30 June 2015 

Can the red wolf survive outside of zoos? Is it really a distinct species? These are some of the questions that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) says it needs to answer before it can decide whether to continue managing the only population left in the wild. The agency announced today that it would spend the rest of the year evaluating its recovery efforts and conducting research on the controversial species, and won’t release any more animals into the wild for the time being.

Advocates are concerned that the agency is winding down its efforts to protect the wolf. “The emphasis and tone have moved far away from the conservation and recovery of an endangered species and seems to be preparing the public for its eventual extinction in the wild,” says Sierra Weaver, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Red wolves were nearly hunted to extinction in the 20th century. Biologists established a captive breeding population in zoos, some of which FWS released back into the wild starting in 1987. Between 50 and 75 red wolves (Canis rufus) remain on a peninsula in North Carolina. The main threat is hybridization with coyotes, which have encroached on wolf habitat. Until recently wolves were being shot by hunters at night, but a court banned the practice in 2013. Many landowners were upset, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) promptly demanded that FWS take a hard look at its wolf recovery program.

After a review by the nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), completed this past November, FWS decided it needs to learn more. “The scope of our feasibility review will be broader and focus on questions and issues related to whether the overall recovery of the red wolf in the wild is truly attainable in light of the challenges identified in the Institute’s evaluation,” according to a statement. The major hurdles flagged by WMI are the need for multiple wild populations, hybridization with coyotes, the integrity of the wolf genome, and land ownership patterns in wolf habitat.

FWS is coordinating its research with NCWRC. Gordon Myers, executive director of NCWRC said in a teleconference that an important improvement would be upgrading the radio collars of red wolves that are captured on private land. This would allow researchers to identify wolves that repeatedly encroach and not release them again. FWS will convene a meeting of experts to try to come to consensus on the question of whether the red wolf is distinct species. Some scientists think it is a hybrid of red wolves and coyotes.

The agency also said today that it would not release new wolves to the peninsula while the review is underway (although it hasn’t done that in a year or so). Also remaining on hold is a key management activity—the release of sterilized coyotes to prevent hybridization—that NCWRC had prohibited. In addition, Cindy Dohner, FWS southeast regional director, said that the agency will improve communication with landowners who object to the wolves and establish a stakeholder forum to work with state, landowners, and conservation groups.

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NEWS UPDATE: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Denies Threatened Status for Gray Wolf

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

on June 30, 2015

WODCW  was one of the 21 wolf conservation and wolf protection organizations to sign the petition for threatened status that the USF&WS rejected today. Threatened status would provide solutions to depredation concerns for the state’s farmers and ranchers. Under threatened status a trophy hunt of wolves would not be allowed.

WODCW believes the state of WI has mismanaged wolves that were delisted in 2012 by holding a recreational trophy hunt on wolves. The recreational trophy hunt employed the barbaric method of using hound hunting dogs to track and trail wolves and also, the inhumane method of trapping.

WODCW believes wolves must stay in federal protected status, under the Endangered Species Act until the state of WI can show reasonable wolf management that protects the health and welfare of wild wolves. Wolves are crucial for our ecosystems.

The fight’s not over yet. WODCW will keep you up to date.
~Rachel

The following is from HSUS press release on today’s disappointing decision. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Denies Threatened Status for Gray Wolf, Rejecting Reasonable Compromise on Contentious Issue

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a petition that would reclassify most gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act as “threatened” throughout the contiguous United States. The proposal, which was filed by The Humane Society of the United States and 21 other conservation and wolf protection organizations in January 2015, offered a pathway for a reasonable compromise between the current more restrictive “endangered” listing for wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming, and the efforts by some anti-wolf politicians in Congress to strip wolves of all protections entirely. A “threatened” listing would have continued federal oversight and funding of wolf recovery efforts, but also would have given federal, state and local wildlife managers more flexibility to address specific wolf conflicts such as livestock depredation. Michael Markarian, chief program and policy officer of The Humane Society of the United States issued the following statement:

“We are disappointed in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision not to consider this middle-ground approach to wolf management. A threatened listing is a reasonable compromise to this contentious issue, and it retains some federal protection for wolves, while providing more flexibility to the states in dealing with the occasional problem wolf. We need practical solutions, not to turn back the clock to the days of widespread hound hunting, baiting and trapping of hundreds of wolves in states with hostile and reckless wolf management policies.” http://m.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2015/06/fws-denies-wolf-petition-063015.html

photograph used with permission of artist Ron Niebrugge

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#Wolf of the Day

  Wolf by Dawn Cotterell   

Decision expected on only wild population of red wolves

Posted June 30, 2015

RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal officials plan to announce whether they will continue, change or end a program in North Carolina to maintain the only wild population of endangered red wolves.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans a conference call Tuesday to say what it will do with the program, an announcement that's been delayed several times. Officials have said all options are on the table.

The announcement comes several months after a report commissioned by the government criticized the program. Earlier this year, state wildlife officials asked the federal government to end the program and declare the wolves extinct in the wild.

The only wild population of the red wolf is in several counties in eastern North Carolina. About 100 now roam the wild, and about 200 are in captive breeding programs.

 

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#Wolves of the Day

  Tris by Francesco Cinque