Aerial shooting, brutal trapping, poisoning, hunting. This sounds like wildlife "control" policies from the turn of the 20th century. These barbaric methods of murder along with misinformation and an unjustified hatred of wolves is exactly how they became extirpated in the United States in the first place. Idaho's Governor Otter is waging a bloody and brutal war against wolves in his state. He has created a "wolf control board" mandated to kill wolves in Idaho. They are not there to oversee management or in any way fairly assess wolf-human conflicts. They are charted with destroying hundreds of remaining wolves in Idaho from approximately 650 to possibly 150. The Idaho Fish and Game department has sponsored numerous forms of wolf killing from secretive aerial shootings in the Frank Church Wilderness Area to secret hunting by hired killers.
Where is the sanity in all of this murder? If Governor Otter and his administration can not stop their irresponsible behavior, why hasn't the federal government stepped in to stop them? The people of the nation have spoken - they don't want wolves killed. There are a small handful of loud and hateful voices demanding death to wolves, however they are the minority. And yet, they have been given free reign to destroy this beautiful apex species. How is it remotely possible that we can be repeating history in less than 100 years. No one has forgotten what happened to wolves at the turn of the last century and yet, we are allowing the same hatred, misinformation and small numbers of individuals to run rampant with their brutality.
What can be done to stop them? We must speak out to government officials, both in Idaho and the federal government and demand that this wasteful and irresponsible wildlife destruction be stopped immediately. Please pass this information along to everyone that you know. The following is an excellent blog written in The Huffington Post by Jamie Rappaport Clark from Defenders: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-rappaport-clark/hatred-is-the-new-wolf-ma_b_5169751.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=3960340b=facebook
