Stop wolf-killing free-for-all

You must find it as hard to believe as I do that Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are so hellbent on killing wolves that they are working to eviscerate any and all federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across their entire range in the lower 48 states. But that’s exactly what’s on deck in the House this week with a vote slated for the Boebert-Tiffany bill, H.R. 764.

They are charging ahead even after what happened with Cody Roberts and his choice to run over a young female wolf in Wyoming and then to take possession of her and torture her.

It was a Congressional rider in 2012 that resulted in the loss of federal protection of wolves in the Northern Rockies, and that left wolves at the mercy of state legislators in Wyoming. Legislators responded by allowing killing of wolves every day of the year, without limit on numbers and by any means on 85 % of the land area of Wyoming. It became legal in Wyoming to run down animals even with snowmobiles.

Cody Roberts took advantage of this wolf-killing free-for-all and caused so much cruelty. Unrestrained killing may now infect as many as 12 other states unless we defeat this bill.

If we don’t act, we may see a replay of what happened in Wyoming in other states, particularly in Wisconsin, where the legislature has mandated all sorts of Draconian policies to kill wolves if the species is removed from the federal protected list.

To take one example, Wisconsin lawmakers ordered the use of dogs to attack wolves, neck snares, night-time hunts with night-vision goggles, and more as soon as federal protections for wolves are lifted in the Upper Great Lakes region.

I know you must find it hard to believe that Congress could initiate this proposal in the wake of the galling and disgusting torture of wolf pup Theia in Wyoming. But it is true.

We must send a message to all federal lawmakers to oppose a mass expansion of the assault on wolves.

There is no time to waste.

– Wayne Pacelle, president, Animal Wellness Action