May 14, 2008
ALERT!

COMMENTS NEEDED!
IDAHO WOLF HUNT PLAN NEEDS TO BE SHOT DOWN.

BOULDER-WHITE CLOUDS COUNCIL, INC.
BOX 6313
KETCHUM ID 83340

ALERT: Comments on Wolf Hunt due Monday morning, May 19th. Please read the ALERT and take a few minutes to help wolves.

DATE: May 14, 2008

TO: BOULDER-WHITE CLOUDS COUNCIL WOLF SUPPORTERS

FROM: LYNNE K. STONE, BWCC DIRECTOR

SUBJECT: PLEASE WRITE BY MONDAY MORNING MAY 19 & OPPOSE IDAHO’S UNJUST WOLF HUNT. I am sorry for this short notice to comment, but the Challis meeting (which I attended) on wolf hunt regs and seasons was just was held yesterday by IDFG. Currently there are about 700 wolves in Idaho. IDFG would allow a mortality of 328 wolves by the end of 2008. Most mortality would come during a four to seven month rifle hunting season.

COMMENT AT: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/apps/surveys/wolfSeasons/ (Proposed Hunting Regs and length of seasons can be read at this site).

Here are points to make to IDFG:

1. IDAHO’S PROPOSED WOLF HUNT IS PREMATURE, INHUMANE AND BASED ON POLITICS NOT SCIENCE. Please tell IDFG that you support wolves in Idaho and oppose wolf hunting. Add that you and your family would like to view live wolves in Idaho, but the proposed hunt robs you of this chance. Yellowstone Park has people come from all over the world to see wolves, yet Idaho's wolf hunting plan shuts the door on any chance of wolf eco-tourism business. (Note that since delisting, in Wyoming outside of Yellowstone, anti-wolf vigilantes are prowling the countryside to kill wolves. The same will happen here if a wolf season starts and anyone can buy a cheap wolf tag.)

2. PLEASE TELL IDFG that you do not support any of their hunting season alternatives. If and when wolf hunting is allowed in Idaho, then IDFG must start slowly and offer a few permits through a draw system for a once-in-a-lifetime hunt. Urge IDFG to show some enthusiasm for live wolves, rather than treating them like potatoes to be “harvested”. Also, please urge that IDFG start a program of public education about the value of wolves to the natural ecosystem. More efforts must also be made to educate ranchers to use non-lethal methods to keep wolves away from livestock.

3. PLEASE MENTION THAT PROPOSED Alternatives 3 and 4, which would allow wolf hunting for seven months from August 30 through March 31, are especially inhumane and unsportsmanlike. A seven-month hunting season shows no understanding or concern for pack structure on the part of IDFG. Wolf puppies are only four months old in August. Hunters will target the largest wolves, leaving shredded packs and orphaned pups to fend on their own. Then in mid-winter, as wolves start to return to their traditional den site, hunters can simply follow wolves and eliminate entire packs. Hunters could be shooting at alpha females within a week or two of giving birth.

THANK YOU FOR COMMENTING!

UPDATE ON LITIGATION TO HALT DELISTING: Earthjustice, representing 12 groups, filed a lawsuit the day (March 28) that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted wolves in the Northern Rockies from the Endangered Species Act. I was honored to write one of the declarations for this lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has scheduled a hearing for May 29th in Missoula. If Judge Molloy rules in favor of protecting wolves and stays delisting, then this fall’s wolf hunting season might not occur. In the meantime, we need to speak up in support of wolves.