PETITION TARGET: President Joe Biden and state legislators
UPDATE (3/21/2022): A judge’s ruling has led to protections for wolves in 44 U.S. states, but some wolf populations still are not protected. We will continue to watch this case. —Lady Freethinker Staff
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Legislation aiming to brutally kill unlimited numbers of wolves using cruel and inhumane methods shunned by wildlife experts means the beautiful animals could soon, once again, be facing endangerment or extinction unless we act now.
Grey wolves, which have faced unprecedented persecution for more than a century, had barely started recovering when the previous administration lifted their protections last November. Under these relaxed restrictions, several states are pushing aggressive legislation that would include unlimited hunting and bounties for dead wolves.
Montana legislation pushes for shooting wolves at night, while legislation in Idaho would allow hunters to shoot wolves from motorized parachutes, ATVs, or snowmobiles year round and with no limit.
Although hunters in Wisconsin already are allowed to use hunting dogs to brutally tear wolves to shreds, legislators also are encouraging merciless steel snares known to indiscriminately trap other animals — including beloved family pets.
Steel traps — illegal in only eight U.S. states, and permitted in the states pursuing the massive wolf slaughters– often slice down to the bone, mutilating limbs or paws as panicked animals struggle for hours before succumbing to slow and painful deaths, involving exhaustion, starvation, shock and exposure to the elements.
Those pressuring lawmakers for the changes — including hunting groups — have not shown that they will honor limits and regulations set by lawmakers.
Wisconsin recently made shameful headlines when hunters and trappers killed 216 of the state’s 1,100 wolves over just three days — nearly double the state’s announced quota.
Proponents arguments also don’t stand up to science. Despite claims that wolves “must” be killed to stop attacks on livestock — which often are grazing on former wolf rangeland, leased out by Departments of Agriculture — multiple studies have shown that killing off apex predators has numerous negative impacts, including ecosystems out of balance.
We only have to look, once again, to Wisconsin — where, despite claims of out-of-control depredation and dwindling deer populations, the number of wolf attacks actually is down 36% while deer populations have skyrocketed.
Counter to what the lawmakers and private interests pushing for the persecution of wolves claim, based on wolves’ delisting — wolves have not fully rebounded.
Research shows they roam only 20% of their former homelands in the United States. Researchers also have noted that the incessant listing, de-listing, and re-listing of wolves makes them much more vulnerable as a species to ultimate extinction.
We must speak out now before states allow a free-for-all killing spree against wolves permitting vicious and bloody methods that will cause the hunted wolves to die slow, painful, and gruesome deaths.
Sign this petition to urge both federal and state lawmakers to listen to the science on depredation, rather than cower to political or private interest groups, and act immediately on behalf of wolves before they once more become an endangered species.
Then, please call your local legislators and tell them that you won’t support cruel, mass killings of wolves.
