Dori Edwards, Global Animal
According to a Yellowstone National Park scientist, seven gray wolves collared for research purposes were murdered in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming last week. Dave Hallac, chief of Yellowstone’s Center for Resources, stated that two of the wolves were from packs that do not roam within the park anymore, however, the remaining five den primarily within Yellowstone.
The wolf population is becoming increasingly endangered by recent legislations in the Northwestern United States. Just this year, Montana joined Wyoming in lifting the quotas for wolf hunting, which means there is no limit on how many wolves can be killed, except in certain areas including Glacier National Park and a region that borders the northern boundary of Yellowstone.
Wyoming, within the past month, ruled that wolves can be hunted anywhere within the state’s borders. “Anyone who sees a wolf anywhere across the vast majority of Wyoming can kill it —legally—with no questions asked,” stated National Resource Defense Council President Frances Beinecke.
Wolves are becoming more endangered in the Northwestern United States. Help protect them and sign the petition! Photo Credit: NRDC
There is an immediate buffer zone around Yellowstone National Park borders that limits hunters to three total wolf hides per year, but if any wolf wanders outside this small area, the innocent canine is fair game to any shooter during the trapping season.
“The park boundary does not have a fence around it,” stated Andrea Jones of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. According to a member of the advocacy group Wolves of the Rockies, “these animals travel and they go in and out of the park. They don’t go far, but they go far enough.”
Jones also stated that hunters are even allowed to call for the wolves in order to coerce them outside the boundaries of where they are protected.
Within a year of removing wolves from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana, 545 wolves were murdered in the two territories along with 34 killings in Wyoming.
Biologists and Hallac claim that there are still plenty of wolves to sustain the species, but animal activists believe that allowing hunters to mass murder the animals will put them in peril once again.
We need to stand up for these innocent animals and help protect them from ruthless killers. The NRDC is challenging Wyoming in the federal court in order to return wolves to the endangered species list. Take action and write a letter telling Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar to end the slaughter of Wyoming’s wolves and return them to the endangered species list until the state presents a credible plan to protect them.
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Washington Wolf Pack Murdered
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Wolf Rehabilitation Center At Risk
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