01/28/09 Delisting the Grey Wolf

The decision to remove the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains populations of gray wolf from the Endangered Species List is being met with mixed emotions among farmers, ranchers and environmental organizations. The individual states and tribes where the delisting is taking effect are to be responsible for managing the wolf population. A period of at least five years for monitoring will be necessary to ensure their sustainability. If this delisting is anything like the delisting in the spring of 2008 it will barely take that amount of time. Within six months of delisting the gray wolf in these areas ten percent of their population was killed by rampant hunting. As one rancher from Wyoming put it "People overreacted," I don't think the policy was intended as: 'Go out and see how many wolves you can kill." Farmers and ranchers need to have the ability through federal permits to be able to manage wolves that threaten their livestock. But the gray wolf should not be opened up as fair game for everyone. This will only lead once again to reckless and needless slaughter of the species.