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Monday, April 11, 2011

More Bad News For Wolves


From the New York Times: "Wolf Delisting Survives Budget Fight, as Settlement Crumbles."

I've written here before that delisting wolves from protective status by legislative and not scientific means is as mean-spirited as it is stupid. If hunters want to hunt something cunning and cruel, give Democratic Sen. Jon Tester a five minute head start before you release the hounds. If there is justice in the universe, that guy will meet his ends in the jaws of the a hungry wolf pack. Instead, he's leading a nastier pack of confidence men in using their leverage as legislators to go around science and curb the great gains gray wolves have made in the last couple decades.

As an Arizonan, there is little I can do. The right thing to do is "contact your elected officials and tell them you oppose delisting wolves!" Who will listen in Arizona? John Kyl? John McCain? Any of the other clowns in the fundamentalist cabal that comprises Arizona's elected officials? I think not.

Well, truth be told, I have, many times, written to politicians about conservation issues only to get some boilerplate nonsense a couple days later.

That doesn't mean that all effort are futile, though! If you live in a sane state with some semi-reliable elected officials (yes, political action dialogue has been reduced to pleas for sanity directed at semi-reliable people), please write to them and stand on the side of science and wolves. Even one quick line is a constituent on the record stating an opinion. Something like this,

Dear Senator X,

This message is to inform you that I do not support delisting the gray wolf. Science, not special interests, should govern how we manage our American wildlife and wild places.

Sincerely,
You

Find your senator here or representative here.

P.S. - Even if you don't love wolves or you think there are more pressing matters at hand than environmental issues, keep in mind that delisting endangered species by legislative means is one more instance of a concerted attack on science by American politicians. It's one scuffle in a battle to prevent meaningful action against climate change, keep us dependent on oil, get evolution out of the classroom, and myriad other instances where science comes into conflict with what's politically expedient or ideologically supposed. Deniers of science belong in history books, not legislative positions. They, not wolves, should be the endangered species worrying about going extinct. Fighting for wolves is fighting for science and fighting for science is fighting for our collective future.

P.S.S. - If that wolf pictured above doesn't look like a wolf you're used to seeing, that's because it's a Mexican wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf. They're very, very endangered. Delisting would likely spell extinction for this unique southwestern subspecies. Learn more at mexicanwolves.org.

This video from newsy.com gives a good synopsis of the issue.

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