The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) held the last public hearing on their proposal to remove the entire lower 48 wolf population from the protection of the federal government. The USFWS is also proposing changes to the Mexican gray wolf recovery that, like the federal delisting, puts wolves in the crosshairs of hate. Founder Dr. Hackett made one of the first comments in DC and one of the last comments in AZ. Many comments in AZ were openly hostile toward the wolf. 
We at Howling For Wolves have grave concerns about the US gray wolf recovery and the transfer of responsibility from federal to state governments. Wolves are now hunted everywhere they have been delisted. Hunting is killing large percentages of wolves and pushing the population to “catastrophe-courting” levels where they are dangerously susceptible to additional stress such as infectious diseases. Without federal protection, wolves have nowhere else to go. States such as South Dakota will treat them as vermin, to be killed without restriction. Hostility is directed toward wolves throughout the world and even in places where people have erroneously believed that wolves are safe, such as in Alaska and Canada where illegal and legal killings occur.
It is critical that you submit an official comment by December 17th to USFWS. Tell them that wolves are often killed outside of regulated hunts. Effective enforcement of illegal and legal wolf killings is not even possible. Removing federal protections for wolves is a loss of the backstop that kept wolves in existence until today.
For the Mexican gray wolf, time is quickly running out. The wolves in captivity that could be released are “aging-out.” Over 70% of the wolves in captivity are beyond or close to beyond reproductive ability. With only 2 breeding pairs among the 75 wolves in the wild, the USFWS proposal to allow Mexican wolves to be killed for loss of pets when the population reaches 100 wolves is ludicrous. Also, the arbitrary boundaries of the recovery zone below AZ’s highway 40 is another threat to the lobo that would prevent the Mexican wolf from going to better habitat including near the Grand Canyon.
Wolves are facing their biggest challenge to their existence. Everyone who cares about wolves –you – need to please comment today! Here in MN, we are pushing for state laws that protect our wolves and move to use more non-lethal methods to help avoid conflicts with livestock. Your donations are critical for our work to keep the only original wolf population that never went extinct, intact right here in MN.
Keep howling,
Howling for Wolves
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