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Petition seeks to reintroduce wolves across the U.S
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Crying wolf may take on a whole new meaning if a petition from scientists is acted on.
A group of biologists with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity have filed a petition with the federal government asking them to return tens of thousands of gray wolves to New England, California, the Great Plains and the desert West, USA Today reports.
During the last century, wolves were hunted to near-extinction, yet recently have made an astounding comeback thanks to efforts such as those in the 1990s that reintroduced 66 wolves to Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. Currently, 6,000 wolves live in the U.S., excluding Alaska. New packs have appeared in parts of Oregon and Washington, and sightings have been recorded in Colorado, Utah and northern New England.
However, according to Michael Robinson, who authored the petition, this is not enough. "If the gray wolf is listed as endangered, it should be recovered in all significant portions of its range, not just fragments," he told the paper.
Yet, the petition faces strong opposition, particularly from farmers, ranchers and hunters, who have experienced an increase in livestock killing and declining big game herds due to the rising wolf population, the paper writes. In many areas, public wolf hunts are becoming state-sponsored measures to combat sheep and cattle killings. Idaho and Montana adopted the practice as an attempt to reduce the animal’s population growth, which can be as high as 3 percent annually.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that received the petition, has no deadline by which they must act. Chris Tollefson, the agency’s spokesman, told USA Today that it will conduct a thorough review to understand where suitable habitats for wolves would be, producing recommendations by late 2010 or early 2011. However, the agency will offer no final decision.
The threat to gray wolves is unlikely to diminish. Montana recently announced that it would begin selling licenses for the state’s 2010 wolf hunting season, setting the harvest quota at 186 wolves, the Los Angeles Times reports. Licenses cost $19 for residents and $350 for nonresidents.
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