One Million Americans Speak Out Against Stripping Federal Protections From Wolves — Most Public Comments Ever on an Endangered Species Act Decision

Approximately 1 million Americans stated their opposition to the Obama administration’s proposal to strip endangered species protections from gray wolves in a public comment period that closed today. This is the largest number of comments ever submitted on a federal decision involving endangered species and reflects broad dissatisfaction with the Obama administration’s politically driven move to turn wolf management over to states across most of the lower 48. “Americans overwhelmingly oppose removing protections for wolves, and for good reason. Wolves have recovered to just a fraction of their range and are severely threatened by state-sanctioned hunts intended to decimate them,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope the Obama administration will hear the pleas of hundreds of thousands of citizens and maintain these critically needed protections for wolves.” The 750,000-plus comments, being delivered today to the Fish and Wildlife Service by multiple conservation groups, will bring the total number to well over 1 million...more