Reference Wash. State decision to eradicate a wolf pack

This morning I got the following note from the Center for Biological Diversity.   I could not see how to import the link, so I had to copy and paste.  If you cannot donate then please pass on the word.

This problem is not going away.

Question:  Who is right here?  From my perspective, the wolves have been here for millennia and the livestock operators are using federal land to graze their animals on.  And in this case, the livestock operator let his animals graze right on top of a den.  They are killing these wolves as I write this and as off this notice from CBD, there is now just one adult left, to care for four remaining pups, which the State of Washington is intent on killing anyway.   

Dear Robert, 

Help Protect America's Wolves With a Gift Today

More grim news out of Washington state: Snipers have killed four more wolves -- three adults and a female pup. The Profanity Peak wolf pack family has been shattered, reduced to just one adult struggling to care for the four surviving four-month-old pups.

The killing of this pack -- which, once it's done, will have wiped out 12 percent of the wild wolves in the state -- has been authorized by Washington's wildlife agency despite evidence that a rancher placed his cattle right over the pack's den. Robert Weilgus, director of the Large Carnivore Conservation Lab at Washington State University, told reporters that "This livestock operator elected to put his livestock directly on top of their den site; we have pictures of cows swamping it." We can't allow this kind of provocation to keep leading to state-sanctioned wolf slaughter.

It's time for the gloves to come off -- we're in a bareknuckle fight for these animals' survival. But time is not on our side, so please help now. Make a donation today to the Center's Wolf Defense Fund.

Wolves desperately need our help. Not only are the state bureaucrats in Washington hoping to finish off the Profanity Peak pack, local Ferry County officials also swear they'll take matters into their own hands. They've said they're eager to send their sheriff to finish the job by killing any remaining pack members. This would be a gross violation of the law and set a terrible precedent -- a local posse bent on killing is brutal and primitive. When and if Ferry County tries this tactic, the Center's ready to go to court to stop it.

Please help us in this war on wolves with a donation to the Wolf Defense Fund.

The Center is leading the counterattack against the wolf haters. From Washington, D.C. to Washington state, our lawyers, scientists and activists are fighting anti-wolf extremists who would destroy the progress we've made over the past quarter-century. We've saved the lives of countless wolves across America, shutting down those trying to turn their habitat into feedlots, timber farms and open-pit mines.

I know you believe in a future where wolves still live wild. Please help us make that future real with a gift to the Wolf Defense Fund today.


Kierán Suckling
Executive Director
Center for Biological Diversity

Too think that Spain and Portugal have 3500 wolves and seem to get along fine (with some hiccups)

I did not know that Mike and just checked on your statement.  It is true...the Iberian wolf, a subspecies of the Canis lupus.  Wonder what the reason is for this huge cultural difference between them and America.   Maybe someone here lives there and can explain.

Thanks for that very interesting information Mike.

I just got an email from Center for Biological Diversity and thought I had copied and pasted it below.  But I forgot to paste it and have since deleted it from Word.   Several weeks ago, I accessed a local newscast from a Washington network (you can access it on youtube I believe) that shows a slightly different side to all of this.    

Of course It does yank hard at our heartstrings to read about these wolves, (including pups) being picked off by government snipers.   

And one online posting claimed that the cattle/sheep people grazed their livestock right atop the wolf dens.  I would only guess that this is an exaggeration.  But of course I do not know.

As you know, there are always two sides to any conflict.

I do know that this is federal land that these livestock people are using.  This land belonged to the native Americans before our European ancestors took it from them and before that it was only wildlife.  The wolf has been there for millennia.  


So the question screams for a fair answer.......... What can any government entity give for the rationale to justify the removal of the native gray wolf (Canis lupus), a species that was there before our ancestors and before the American aborigine ? 

1.  Can anyone answer this question?  To be fair, I do realize that no one can.  

And here is a link to some super interesting information on the Iberian Wolf (Canis lupus signatus).  But after saying how great the article looks to be....I have to read it when I get back from these nagging errands.  :)

Blck-shouldered Kite wrote:

So the question screams for a fair answer.......... What can any government entity give for the rationale to justify the removal of the native gray wolf (Canis lupus), a species that was there before our ancestors and before the American aborigine ? 

1.  Can anyone answer this question?  To be fair, I do realize that no one can.  

 :)

The answer to your question is simple. This situation is the result of politics. No matter what the law says, the rancher that grazes his livestock on federal public land has more say in the matter than the wolf does. The rancher or his spokespeople lobbies government officials to do something about his perceived problem. Laws can be changed or reasoned away if they are inconvenient. The reasons may be that he is a business person that will suffer, that he has the right to use public land for his own profit, or that the wolf is a bloodthirsty vermin on the landscape that should be eradicated by whatever means necessary. There is no reasonable and significant voice upholding wildlife laws. Government legislators and other officials will listen to the rancher because they want his approval in the next political election. The wolf does not vote nor does it shoot back. 
Paul 

Yet another example of government (whether state of federal, doesn't matter) arrogance and ignorance. So sad, I received the same email and have donated.