Secretary Salazar (a rancher, by the way) has kept a Bush-era plan to remove wolves' protection under the endangered species act. This could mean nearly 1,000 wolves being shot in the next few months in Idaho and Montana. This seems crazy to me: wolves are a crucial part of Northern Rockies' ecology, maintaining healthy elk populations which in turn protects local flora from overgrazing. Additionally, we have spent millions of taxpayer dollars saving wolves from extinction in the lower forty-eight states. Now we want to remove the protections that make it illegal to kill them? The delisting plans for these states are not sufficient, and are based on a population size too small to protect wolves from extinction.
Make your opinion heard, send an email to Salazar's boss.
