[silence]

Here are two issues concerning the plight of wolves in these United States -- Defenders of Wildlife has been working tirelessly over the last three years trying to save the wolves in Alaska from aerial hunting (slaughter in my opinion) and more recently trying to keep wolves on the endangered species list in the Northern Rockies. For more info on the aerial shootings go here - it's a complicated issue - wolves are not endangered in Alaska, but they still play "an essential role in maintaining healthy prey populations and biodiversity in ecosystems in which they inhabit." http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/wolf/alaska.html In any case, if you abhor the idea of aerial gunning, as I do, you can Take Action from that page by signing a petition urging the Bush Administration to enforce the Federal Airborne Hunting Act - go here to read more about this act passed in 1971 to protect animals against such aerial killing: http://www.wolfsongnews.org/news/Alaska_current_events_1672.html Then: On Jan 29 the US Fish & Wildlife Service published a proposal to remove the Northern Rockies wolf population from the Endangered Species list. This would leave it up to state agencies to ensure the long-term viability of that gray wolf species. Conservationists aren't necessarily against the idea of returning the management to the states. But unfortunately, some states, namely Idaho and Wyoming, support plans that don't continue to protect the wolves. In fact, once the federal protections are lifted, Idaho's official plan is to remove wolves "by whatever means possible." At the onset 6 hearings were scheduled during a 60-day public comment period - in Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Boise, Helena, Spokane and Pendleton. However, western Washington, western Oregon, and central Colorado were ignored. These areas actually have prime wolf habitat but no wolf populations yet; if Idaho and Wyoming follow through with their plans for wolf eradication, these areas will never see recovered wolf populations. Fortunately, last week the public comment period was extended another 30 days to May 9. So, wolf supporters still have time to weigh in; please write a letter directly to US F & W or go to Defenders and Take Action there; for more info go here: http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/wolf/regions/nrockies_delisting_02_2007.html

[lookout bob]

nice post Silence.....just for the record....I too abhor the thought of shooting any animal out of an airplane....unless it is with tranquilizer darts done in order to move the animal to a safer environment in last case scenarios. I especially hate the form of "hunting' whereby a pack of dogs trees a cougar and then it is shot out of the tree.....makes me sick....the cat has no chance....is that really hunting?

[jenjen]

[peltoms]

It will be hard to delay the delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies for long, but l Hope it can be done at least until Bush is out. The federal govt. will still be able to have considerable control if they wish. I look forward to hearing a wolf howl in Washington someday. It is a beautiful sound, eerie too, when in your tent.

[treeswarper]

Wolves and cougars can be a pain if you can't hunt them to keep them afraid of people. I've worked in Wisconsin where the wolves were getting pretty brazen and not running off. I did not like living there because you had to worry about your dog getting killed if you were in certain pack areas. I've returned home to find that we now have cougars doing the same. There's a cougar that has been sighted 3 times this month on a logging area. It doesn't flee from the noise either. For those of us who make our living outdoors, this can be a little bit annoying. I don't really wish to find out if a saw can be used for defense against a cougar. I'm sure this is gonna set off howls of protest, but that's how it is for me.

[silence]

Ditto - Bob - re: hunting down cougars with dogs - the citizens of Washington agreed and passed an initiative banning the use of dogs several years back, but in 2004 WA F & W decided to reverse that (so much for our initiative system). jenjen - please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think any wolves in NW Washington were just transients from BC; however there have been some sightings in the Selkirks of NE Washington - here's the rundown from Conservation NW: http://www.conservationnw.org/wildlife-habitat/gray-wolf I, too, dream of someday hearing the howl of a wolf in the mountains of Western Washington. A rogue cougar here or bear there - these can be dealt with individually and humanly - we don't need to resort to thoughtless, knee-jerk eradication policies (esp out of fear; much less for political or economic reasons). Coyotes and raccoons are probably a much bigger threat to pets, anyway - not that I'm insinuating they be mercilessly eradicated either. Wolves are being managed in the Northern Rockies as we speak. Since 1987, Defenders of Wildlife has administered a wolf compensation trust (financed by private donors) to reimburse ranchers there for livestock losses caused by wolves - the economic burden of wolf recovery willingly borne by supporters of wolf reintroduction. And, apparently Montana has been able to produce an effective conservation-oriented wolf management policy.

[jenjen]

What I have been told in phone conversations is that there is a resident pack living on the Hozomeen side of Ross Lake. On the American side. From the National Park Service. Another from the NPS. Despite what I was told via a phone conversation with the Dept. of Fish and Game, their website says wolves are transient here in the Cascades. I do know sightings have been confirmed in the North Cascade foothills as far South and West as Rockport.

[silence]

very cool - thanks jenjen - even more reason to keep them on the endangered species list and take action now.

[Malachai Constant]

We spoke with a ranger and he said there was a den with cubs in the area. It is quite remote from the US but easy to get to on a good road from Hope.

[wildernessed]

[LizzyBob]

[silence]

I once saw a VERY large wolflike canis in the lowlands of the Olympics -- seen my share of coyotes -- and this one was way too big. Wishful thinking -- this was really special -- a chance encounter with an alpha male from some long lost Olympic pack -- that no one knew about -- only lucky me. I actually held that belief until just yesterday -- was reading (delighting in) Harvey Manning's Walking the Beaches to Bellingham, where he relates a similar meeting near Kayak Pt -- but, no delusions for Harvey -- just a very WELL fed coyote. Oh well. Thanks for your input LizzyBob

[silence]

Please, if you thought about it, then forgot about it ... well, in the words of dear ol' Harvey: "Your feet bones are connected to your leg bones, leg bones to the hip bones, hip bones to the backbone, backbone to the head bone, head bone to the letter-writing finger bones." Fish and Wildlife is accepting comments until 5pm, May 9, 2007. Speak out to keep gray wolves in the Northern Rockies federally protected -- personal letters by snail mail are best, but you can comment electronically, too. By email: WesternGrayWolf@fws.gov. Include ‘‘RIN number 1018–AU53’’ in the subject line of the message. By mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Gray Wolf Recovery Coordinator, 585 Shepard Way, Helena, Montana 59601. Include ‘‘RIN number 1018–AU53’’ in the subject line of the letter. Or, speak "en masse" by TAKING ACTION here: http://action.defenders.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_homepage ALSO, in the news this morning: Alaska is actually offering a bounty of $150/head to aerial gunners - an outrage: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17735990/

[Joecreek]

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[silence]

Admin Note: The contents of this post were lost in a database crash.