Wolves need our help

by Judy Hoy, Stevensville

The recent news that 20 wolves from Yellowstone National Park have been killed by hunters and trappers is heartbreaking evidence of the need for the Biden Department of the Interior to finally act and protect these wolves as senators, congresspeople, scientists, a former director of the USFWS, Tribal leaders, and activists have been imploring them to do.

The Biden Administration could have prevented the slaughter of our precious wolves and he should act immediately before it is too late to save them from extinction again. 

In August, Dan Ashe (the former Director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under President Obama) wrote a Washington Post Oped urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to act and issue emergency protections for gray wolves as permitted under the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Ashe outlined exactly why she should act and under what authority. 

To date, President Biden and Secretary Haaland have ignored the former USFWS Director and his pleas to act. He followed up in December with a letter signed by directors of zoos and aquariums in his role as CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Still nothing has been done to save the wolves.

Please join me in writing to the Department of Interior at doi.gov and ask that Secretary Haaland finally act to stop this unsustainable killing of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies before it is too late. It took decades and hard work to bring these wolves back. Idaho and Montana can destroy this progress in just months if they are allowed to. As I stated in my recent letter to the editor, the number of livestock killed by wolves is miniscule compared to the millions of just domestic calves in the U.S. that are killed by exposure to the pesticides that fall on or are applied to the foliage eaten by livestock. If you don’t believe that domestic cattle are being affected by thyroid hormone disrupting pesticides, just Google “domestic calves underbite images” and see all the photos of calves with an underbite. That birth defect was shown to be caused by Imidacloprid on grazing animals. Imidacloprid exposure also kills newborn mammals, including children. 

Thank you for helping the wolves.