Wildlife and People

The Faces of Evil

On March 28, 2008, the US Fish and Wildlife Service de-listed the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf. The gray wolf has been on the endangered species list for 35 years. The USFWS determined, after an exhaustive process that took many years, that the gray wolf population had recovered and was no longer in danger of extinction. From the USFWS press release [here].

Today, Friday, March 28, 2008, the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf is officially removed from the federal list of endangered species. The States of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will assume full management authority for the continued conservation of the gray wolf. This wolf population has exceeded its recovery goals for the past several years and is now thriving. Presently, there are more than 1,500 wolves and at least 100 breeding pairs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The Service and States will cooperatively monitor the wolf population for the next five years.

As part of the Service’s delisting action, it designated the northern Rocky Mountain wolf Distinct Population Segment (DPS) as that area that includes all of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and a small corner of north-central Utah.

On April 28 (30 legal days later) twelve so-called environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the USFWS to force them to with draw the delisting and relist the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf as Threatened and Endangered.

The twelve are: Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands Project, Western Watersheds Project, and Wildlands Project.

The northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves are in actuality Canadian gray wolves that were introduced into the Rocky Mountains by the USFWS. Moreover, they are not pure wolves but are apparently admixed, and probably derive from the grey wolf (Canis lupus) of Old World origin and the coyote (Canis latrans) according to mitochondrial DNA haplotypes.

It is too soon to tell if the relisting lawsuit will have much success. The plaintiffs contend there are too few wolves, but the USFWS contend there are more than 1,500 wolves in the northern Rockies with at least 100 breeding pairs in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. When the gray wolf was listed as a threatened species under ESA on Jan. 4, 1974, the USFWS set a minimum recovery goal of 30 breeding pairs and a minimum of 300 individual wolves for at least three consecutive years. That goal was reached in 2002, and the wolf population has grown since.

On May 1 another pair of lawsuits were filed against the USFWS regarding the Mexican gray wolf in New Mexico and Arizona. Thirteen so-called environmental groups collaborated in filing the suits.

The thirteen are: Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Western Environmental Law Center, Western Watersheds Project, Wildlands Project, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, New Mexico Audubon Council, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, Southwest Environmental Center, University of New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, and The Rewilding Institute.

The point of the Mexican gray wolf lawsuits is not to relist, since the Mexican gray wolf remains on the endangered species list. The groups are challenging a USFWS decision to create an oversight committee, the Mexican Wolf Adaptive Management Oversight Committee (AMOC) made up of the USFWS, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the USDA-Forest Service, the USDA Wildlife Services, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

The plaintiffs do not like AMOC, particularly because they have advised the USFWS to adopt a rule known as Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 13, which calls for the permanent removal from the wild of wolves tied to three livestock depredations in one year. SOP 13 is also known as the “Three Strikes” rule.

In practice it is difficult to tell which wolf did the killing, so individual wolves must commit many more than three livestock depredations before they are removed. The kills must be “confirmed” and within a year’s time. That is a difficult burden of proof, so very few wolves have been removed (only 19 “problem” wolves that continually attacked livestock were removed in 2007).

In contrast, hundreds of cattle and horses have been attacked and killed on private deeded land (not grazing allotments), children and adults have been stalked by wolves, wolves have been seen within 50 yards or so from school playgrounds, and Catron County, NM, has erected wolf-proof shelters for children while they await the school bus. Parents are alarmed to the degree that they are arming their children, or packing weapons themselves when they go out to the mailbox. People have witnessed wolves in their yards. Children have too, and some of those children are exhibiting clinical signs of post-traumatic stress.

Despite the destruction of private property, livestock, and child endangerment that has taken place, and despite the weaknesses of SOP 13, the thirteen plaintiff groups are dissatisfied and want more harassment of humans by wolves.

And they are not even wolves, but wolf-dog hybrids. The Mexican gray “wolves” in existence today are traceable to five animals, which were not pure wolves. The “population” is inbred with dog genes. The Mexican gray wolf is for all intents and purposes already extinct. What are being protected are mottled, brindled, genetically impure, do not look like wolves, and are not wolves.

The people who wish to inflict these baseless harms upon their fellow humans include the following, named and quoted in their own press releases [here, here]:

Joe Vickless, Defenders of Wildlife

Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife, “If management practices continue as they have under AMOC, we could see the second extinction of Mexican wolves in the wild.”

Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity, “That’s not good enough for North America’s most imperiled mammal, the Mexican wolf. We won’t let it stand.”

Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club, “The bottom line is the recovery of this highly endangered animal is being hindered by these procedures that promote their removal rather than their restoration to the land.”

Matt Kenna, Western Environmental Law Center,

Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project, “It’s not possible to simultaneously restore and remove Mexican gray wolves.”

Kim Vacariu, Wildlands Project, “It is counterintuitive to pursue punitive measures like SOP 13 that will actually reverse on-the-ground gains.”

Rob Edward, WildEarth Guardians, “The government is putting wolves on the ground with one hand, and then killing or removing those same wolves with the other.”

Dave Foreman, The Rewilding Institute “In effect, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting the second extermination of the lobo in the wild.”

In their own words, about themselves:

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come.

The Center for Biological Diversity, with 40,000 members and based in Tucson, Arizona with an auxiliary office at the edge of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in New Mexico, is dedicated to conserving endangered species and their ecosystems.

The New Mexico Audubon Council represents the four National Audubon Chapters in New Mexico, with over 4,000 members. Our members are deeply committed to preserving birds and other wildlife and restoring natural ecosystems, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit public interest law firm that works to protect and restore western wildlands and advocates for a healthy environment on behalf of communities throughout the West.

The Western Watersheds Project is a regional conservation organization working to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife.

The Wildlands Project is an international, non-profit organization the mission of which is to protect North America’s native animals and plants by working with land managers, local communities, and other partners to create a science-based network of connected wildlife habitat.

The Rewilding Institute is committed to doing whatever we can to stop The Big Killing. Our work is grounded in traditional conservation values—that Nature and species have inherent worth—and in recognition that strictly protected areas are the best tool to defend and restore wild Nature.

The WildEarth Guardians use a potent combination of litigation, scientific analysis, and grassroots organizing. WildEarth Guardians fiercely defends the West’s wild heritage.

Anti-human, anti-children, pro-wolf/dog, and unabashedly proud of it. Those are some of the faces of evil in our society today.