Wolf (Canis lupus)

[epaiva]

(07-12-2019, 10:08 PM)Sully Wrote: "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed a rule in March that would strip wolves of all federal protection (whether threatened or endangered) in the lower 48 states by delisting them under the Endangered Species Act. The gray wolf is currently protected under the ESA throughout the lower 48, except in the Northern Rockies states, including Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and eastern portions of Oregon, Washington, and northern Utah. Since 2011, when wolves were removed from federal protection in the Northern Rocky Mountain states, more than 3,500 wolves have been killed. If wolves are removed from federal protection in the rest of the continental United States, even more could be killed. Defenders, along with over 1.5 million people across the country, filed comments opposing this move, but the Trump administration could finalize the rule this fall.

Scientists, even those requested by the FWS to complete a peer review of the delisting proposal, agree that delisting gray wolves is premature. Reviewer Adrian Treves, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and founder of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab, found “demonstrable errors in the proposed rule and the draft biological report," concluding that “[s]everal of the Service's documents' interpretations and syntheses are neither reasonable nor scientifically sound.” Treves further stated to Courthouse News:“it looks like they decided to delist and then they compiled all the evidence that they thought supported that decision. It simply doesn’t support the decision.” Relying on incomplete and unsound science that fails to acknowledge the importance of multiple areas for wolf recovery in major determinations on the future of the species is reckless and unlawful."

https://defenders.org/blog/2019/07/wolf-delisting-premature-and-not-based-science

Hope it does not happen it would be a disaster for Wolves Reply