Rep. DeFazio Leads 73 Members Urging Wolf Protections

Long time Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee has gotten 73 colleagues from both parties to sign a letter urging the Secretary of Interior to continue protecting the gray wolf. The letter was sent after a peer review concluded the US Fish & Wildlife Service failed to use 'best available science" when it drafted a proposed rule removing the gray wolf from protection in the lower 48 states. In fact, the agency ignored evidence that contradicted its preferred conclusions. The letter signers said the proposed rule would undermine wolf recovery when wolves have yet to recover in many parts of the country and is only just beginning to recover in the Pacific Northwest. There, Idaho is doing its dead level best to eradicate the grey wolf within its boundaries because it interferes with elk trophy hunting. The Idaho governor recently signed the so-called "Wolf Control Board' bill that has as its goal the reduction of Idaho wolves to 150 and 15 breeding pairs, the minimum to keep them from begin re-listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. The board will be overseen by the governor's office and be comprised entirely of members appointed by the governor. That is a license to kill an "Apolosauris" if US Person ever saw one.