USSAF FILES COMMENTS ON
PROPOSAL TO DELIST GRAY WOLVES
O
n Tuesday, December 17th, the U.S. Sportsmen’s
Alliance Foundation (USSAF) filed comments
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) over a
proposal to remove Gray Wolves from protection under
the Endangered Species Act.
Wolves continue to remain at the forefront of the issues
facing the sportsmen’s community today. While the
Western Great Lakes and Rocky Mountain populations of
wolves have already been removed from ESA protection
(“delisted”), this latest proposed rule would delist the
remaining wolf populations across the country (with
narrow exceptions for Mexican wolves in the Southwest
and Red wolves in the Southeast). In addition, USSAF
and our partners are currently engaged in lawsuits in
Wisconsin over their wolf hunting season and in a lawsuit
in federal district court in which the Humane Society of
the United States is asking a judge to again overturn the
delisting of wolves in the Western Great Lakes.
Of particular concern with the latest proposal is the
potential for the Service to recognize two separate wolf
species. While sportsmen will generally welcome delisting
of a species that is as numerous as wolves (there are over
3,000 in Minnesota alone and thousands elsewhere), the
Service’s proposal to “split” visually identical gray wolves
into two separate species is concerning.
“This issue has already been addressed by the scientific
community and by the Service just two years ago in their
2011 final delisting rule for the Western Great Lakes
population,” said Evan Heusinkveld, USSA vice president
of government affairs. “If the anti’s are successful
in subverting the science here, the implications are
extremely dangerous for sportsmen and women.”
Splitting wolves into two species on the basis of alleged
minor genetic differences would, if adopted, provide
ammunition to animal rights and anti-hunting groups to
undermine wolf delisting. Since it is likely impossible to tell
these supposedly separate wolves apart visually, it would
be hard to count how many wolves are in each category
in order to prove neither are endangered. If the two wolf
theory is adopted, anti-hunting organizations would be
positioned to argue that one or the other species remains
endangered, and that both must be protected because
they are so similar in appearance.
While the public comment period closed on December
17th, official action by the Service is not expected until
mid-June 2014.
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FAST
FACTS:
• Traditionally there has been one recognized
gray wolf species (“canis lupus”).
• Animal rights and anti-hunting groups
are pushing to split the g Ʌ