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Recently one of our county’s most highly respected environmental
organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), proposed
that wildlife advocates improve the plight of wolves in Montana by
purchasing a special wolf “conservation” stamp for $20. The money raised
would allegedly be used to resolve wolf conflicts nonlethally, as well
as for public education, habitat improvement and procurement, and law
enforcement.
Sounds great, right?
WRONG.
The problem is the money will go directly to the state agency in
charge of managing wolves—Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). If
you’ve been following our work at Predator Defense for any length of
time you’ll know that, for the state of Montana, “managing” means
“killing.” It is also worth noting that the state has renamed what the
NRDC calls a wolf “conservation” stamp a wolf “management” stamp.
We believe we must speak out against the NRDC’s wolf stamp, and
here’s why. The best available science tells us that territorial, apex
predators like wolves do not need to be managed.
Asking wildlife advocates to donate funds to a government wildlife
management agency is an endorsement of sorts that implies that agency is
deserving of and will use your donation in the best interest of
wildlife, in this case wolves. Such an endorsement promotes what we
would like to call “The Myth,” which is that wildlife management
agencies are using current science and conservation biology, as well as
ethical principles, to create responsible programs to benefit wildlife,
primarily predators. The truth is they are not.
Instead, generous hunting and trapping quotas are the backbone of all
agency predator management. The quotas cannot be supported
scientifically or ethically. Most hunters and trappers see wolves as
competition and “the enemy” and their license fees pay the salaries of
wildlife agency staff.
Fahy is Executive Director of Predator Defense
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