Friday, April 22, 2011
Editorial: A lesson to learn from wolf lawsuits
In an unprecedented action, Congress has attached a rider to the belated and contentious 2011 budget bill that removes the wolves from the endangered species list. And now it's all but a done deal. That makes wildlife advocates everywhere very anxious — and it should. Now that the precedent has been set, what's to stop Congress from overruling the judgments of wildlife biologists on endangered species whenever the political winds blow that way. The groups' repeated successes at thwarting efforts to control the rapidly increasing wolf numbers wore the public's patience thin. As they exerted pressure on their elected representatives, politicians did what politicians do. They found a way to respond to their constituents. If there is a lesson in this for those who fought so hard to keep the wolves out of the hands of state wildlife managers, it's this: Be careful what you wish for. And consider carefully what the consequences may be before taking matters of wildlife management out of the hands of scientists and into the courts...more
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This editorial comment carefully skirts the facts of the case:
1. The Canadian Gray Wolf, with over 50,000 animals on the North American continent, is not now, nor has it ever been, in danger of extinction.
2. The wolf listed as endangered by the Endangered Species Act of 1974, as amended, is Canis lupis irremotus or Timber Wolf, indigenous to the Pacific Northwest.
3. The Canadian Gray Wolf was introduced to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho under the infamous 10(j) rule, allowing for the introduction on non-essential, experimental populations.
4. Non-essential means not necessary, experimental means, in this case, non-indigenous.
5. The money used to introduce the Canadian Gray Wolf to the contiguous United States was stolen from funds set up specifically to pay for the recovery and management of big game - elk, deer, moose, caribou, mountain goats, big horned sheep. These funds were the result of fees paid by sportsman and hunters when buying licenses, tags and sporting equipment.
6. As a result of the introduction of the Canadian Gray Wolf, the indigenous Timber Wolf is now truly extinct; truly a violation of the Endangered Species Act; done by men who claim to have the best interests of the wolf at heart.
It becomes readily apparent that the Canadian Gray Wolf was introduced under a political agenda, not a scientific agenda.
Removing the Canadian Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species Act, via act of Congress, is neither unjustified nor unreasonable. The introduction of the Canadian Gray Wolf should never have been allowed to occur in the first place.
Enviromental groups have made millions, if not billions, by suing the federal government to keep wolves on the Endangered Species Act under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).
While claiming that protecting wildlife is their goal, these environemtal groups have no concern over the damage that the Canadian Gray Wolf is doing to the ungulate herds in the Pacific Northwest.
Nor do they care about the damage that the Canadian Gray Wolf is inflictiong on the ranching industry, the hunting industry, or local economies.
In their lawsuits that have kept Canadian Gray Wolves on the Endangered Specis Act, they have created a situation in Yellowstoe National Park in which wolves have decimated their prey base - elk - and are now turning to cannibalism. It is obvious these groups don't even care about wolves, beyond the money they are making off them at taxpayer expense through the EAJA.
In other words, these environmental groups that have sued endlessly to keep the Canadian Gray Wolf on the Endangered Species List, have done so for the money.
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