Federal judge rules gray wolf hunt illegal, places animal back on endangered species list

[Disir]

A federal judge on Friday placed the gray wolf back on the endangered species list, a measure that put an immediate stop to wolf hunts in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

It’s the fourth time in the last 10 years that courts have intervened in favor of gray wolf protection, and this time it overturns a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision that opened the way for hunting of wolves in the Great Lakes region for the first time in 40 years.

“In the short time since federal protections have been removed, trophy hunters and trappers have killed more than 1,500 Great Lakes wolves under hostile state management programs that encourage dramatic reductions in wolf populations,” said Jonathan Lovvorn, senior vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation at the Humane Society of the United States.

The group sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year over wolf protections.

A state DNR spokesman said the ruling means that, effective immediately, Minnesotans can no longer kill wolves except in the defense of human life.

It’s not yet clear whether the state can or will move to appeal the decision: It’s long been the DNR’s belief that a managed wolf hunt would not imperil the animal’s survival in Minnesota, said spokesman Chris Niskanen.

“Many, many wolf experts around the country have said you can harvest wolves without having an impact on their populations,” he said.

Despite Friday’s ruling, state or federal wildlife agents may still shoot wolves suspected of livestock depredation. Some 200 wolves in Minnesota were killed by state and federal officials this year.

Federal judge rules gray wolf hunt illegal places animal back on endangered species list Star Tribune

Well, that was short lived.

 

[tyroneweaver]

shoot, shovel, shutup

 

[Roadrunner]

A federal judge on Friday placed the gray wolf back on the endangered species list, a measure that put an immediate stop to wolf hunts in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

It’s the fourth time in the last 10 years that courts have intervened in favor of gray wolf protection, and this time it overturns a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision that opened the way for hunting of wolves in the Great Lakes region for the first time in 40 years.

“In the short time since federal protections have been removed, trophy hunters and trappers have killed more than 1,500 Great Lakes wolves under hostile state management programs that encourage dramatic reductions in wolf populations,” said Jonathan Lovvorn, senior vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation at the Humane Society of the United States.

The group sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year over wolf protections.

A state DNR spokesman said the ruling means that, effective immediately, Minnesotans can no longer kill wolves except in the defense of human life.

It’s not yet clear whether the state can or will move to appeal the decision: It’s long been the DNR’s belief that a managed wolf hunt would not imperil the animal’s survival in Minnesota, said spokesman Chris Niskanen.

“Many, many wolf experts around the country have said you can harvest wolves without having an impact on their populations,” he said.

Despite Friday’s ruling, state or federal wildlife agents may still shoot wolves suspected of livestock depredation. Some 200 wolves in Minnesota were killed by state and federal officials this year.

Federal judge rules gray wolf hunt illegal places animal back on endangered species list Star Tribune

Well, that was short lived.

Shit, you can replace a cow easily, a wolf, not so easily.

I bet they aren't overrun with feral hogs in wolf country.

I wish we had some here.

 

[Mr. H.]

Good thing wolves don't fly. I hear the government grants 10-year exemptions to wind farms that enjoy the hell out of chopping up all sorts of endangered species.

 

[waltky]

Umm, den again - mebbe not...

Lost Species' Return Could Trigger Negative Consequences
March 08, 2016 - Many scientists say the Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction. The soaring rate of species loss is blamed largely on us, with climate change, pollution and human encroachment on animal habitat playing roles.

In response, some conservationists say introducing new plants and animals or reintroducing old ones will slow the trend. Now, a new study in the journal Cell Biology warns that such "rewilding efforts" may harm the environment in unintended ways. But that hasn't stopped conservationists from trying. European bison imported from Poland now roam Denmark's Baltic island of Bornholm in places where the animals haven't lived for thousands of years. Rewilding is also playing out on a nature preserve in a remote part of Siberia at Pleistocene Park, established in 1989. Wild horses, oxen and reindeer are living there for the first time since the last ice age.

Reindeer are the most numerous animals in Pleistocene Park, where death rates among these species are low.​

Ice-age landscape

Russian scientist Sergey Zimov runs the nearby Northeast Science Station and is one of the park's founders. "A few years ago there were no animals here," he said. "Today they are here and there will be more and more each year." The experiment aims to re-create an ecosystem that disappeared 10,000 years ago. Zimov said the animals would turn the tundra into a grassland. "Horse, musk ox, reindeer will break the bushes. They will eat them. They will fertilize the soil. The grass will begin to grow. Then most of the trees will dry up, and there will be meadowlands of steppe vegetation." But that's a long way off. Currently, the park supports fewer than 200 animals.

Wolf pack beds down in Yellowstone National Park, where numbers have multiplied five-fold to over 500 since their re-introduction in the mid-1990s.​

University of Copenhagen ecologist David Nogues said such projects might have dangerous consequences. "We cannot predict the consequences of this new conservation approach," he said. One of the main concerns is that some of the animals in these environments have adapted to their new conditions. Throwing long-gone animals back into the mix could further disrupt an already stressed ecosystem. Writing in Cell Biology, Nogues urges using extreme caution in rewilding to save wild places, "to understand in which way the ecosystem works, how it might react when you introduce a new species, what are the economic costs of rewilding compared to other more classic conservation approaches."

Wolf recovery

Wolves chase an elk in Yellowstone National Park.​

The recovery of wolves in America's Yellowstone National Park is often hailed as a rewilding success story. In the mid-1990s, 91 Canadian wolves were released in the park, seven decades after they had been systematically exterminated. The population has multiplied fivefold. Project manager Doug Smith said the wolves are triggering an unexpected ecological chain reaction. "Weary of wolves, elk no longer linger here," he said. "That allows the willows to grow and sets other changes in motion. Songbirds, moose, muskrat, mink — all these animals benefit when the willows come back." While wolves are closely monitored in Yellowstone, their expansion outside the park has ranchers up in arms. They say cattle losses have increased with the wolf population. Rancher Richard Kinkie said that because wolves are federally protected, he has few options, "Certainly I would like to see the controls loosened up on us, so we can deal with wolves," he said.

Fight threats first

 

[Luddly Neddite]

shoot, shovel, shutup

tyroneweaver

You'll be surprised but I couldn't agree more.

Shoot the damn wolf poachers, bury them and walk away.

No loss.

We've got plenty of trigger happy assholes who care nothing about true conservation but not many wolves.

WTF are these jerks grinning about? Wish they'd "harvest" each other.

 

[tyroneweaver]

shoot, shovel, shutup

tyroneweaver

You'll be surprised but I couldn't agree more.

Shoot the damn wolf poachers, bury them and walk away.

No loss.

We've got plenty of trigger happy assholes who care nothing about true conservation but not many wolves.

WTF are these jerks grinning about? Wish they'd "harvest" each other.

I'm speechless.