Public Comments for Wolves - DUE MAY 14

Submit your personalized public comment HERE. Public comments are due May 14.

Talking Points suggested by Project Coyote:

Your comments can simply state: “I am in opposition to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s proposed rule to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states. I urge you to reconsider this proposed rule and to instead develop a national wolf recovery plan for wolves that reflects their intrinsic value and the myriad ecological, aesthetic, and economic benefits the species provides to our communities and ecosystems.”

For maximum impact, however, we encourage you to personalize your comments. Here are some talking points you may consider incorporating:

●       Continuing Endangered Species Act protections for wolves is necessary for the species to fully recover. Federal protections saved gray wolves from extinction following decades of persecution – and the species is still recovering, currently occupying only a fraction of their historic range.

●       The proposed rule would transfer authority over wolves to state wildlife management agencies, which historically have shown little interest in preserving or restoring wolves.These state agencies have catered to special interest groups who seek to kill wolves for trophies or entertainment, or on the misguided belief that killing wolves protects livestock or increases deer and elk populations.

●       Wolves are vital to healthy ecosystems. Benefits wolves provide include increasing biodiversity by keeping large herbivores such as deer from overgrazing habitats and maintaining the health of prey animals such as deer by culling the sick members from the heard, including animals suffering from Chronic Wasting Disease.

●       The best available, peer-reviewed science demonstrates that killing wolves will not protect livestock or increase populations of game species like deer or elk. Wildlife management decisions should be based on ethics and sound science, not fear and misunderstandings.

●       The vast majority of Americans are wildlife watchers who prefer to view wolves in their natural habitat – preserved and treated with respect. Allowing wolves to return to their historic range and thrive will provide far more benefits to our economy than allowing a tiny minority of the population to extirpate these iconic animals from our landscape.


Talking Points Suggested by Oregon Wild:

• It would be premature to remove wolves from the endangered species list, as they are not recovered throughout a significant portion of their historic range.
• While some states have seen stable populations of wolves, this does not mean wolves are recovered throughout all suitable habitat. Hastily removing protections can make the species vulnerable to becoming imperiled again. 
• In Oregon, removing ESA protections would jeopardize the few wolves living in Western Oregon and make them susceptible to a low threshold for lethal removal.
• Federal ESA protections provide a necessary backstop. Removing them would shift decision-making to anti-wolf state agencies who have a vested interest in seeing wolves hunted and trapped. 

Wilderness Watch Public Comments:

• I strongly oppose removing Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves in the contiguous United States. As with past delisting attempts, this action is premature and would undo gains that wolf populations have made under federal protection, which has saved them from the brink of extinction. 
• The 5,000-6,000 gray wolves that occupy the contiguous 48 states are a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of wolves that once roamed this area. Currently, wolves occupy only about 10 percent of their historic range. To establish a reasonable, scientifically valid level of recovery for gray wolves, they must be given the opportunity to repopulate their remaining suitable habitat.
    
• Wildlife knows no boundaries and wolves that use designated Wilderness for part, or all, of their range could be killed.
    
• This proposed rule would cede management of the species to state agencies. In Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, states where wolves have lost ESA protections, thousands of wolves have been killed during state hunting seasons.
    
• Wolves that are no longer protected under the ESA have been cruelly (and legally) snared and caught in barbaric steel-jaw leghold traps, and Wyoming went even further—allowing people to run wolves over with snowmobiles and ATVs, poison them, incinerate them in their dens with gas or dynamite, and gun them down from aircraft.
    
• For these reasons, I urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep gray wolves protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Western Watersheds Talking Points:

• Gray wolf recovery is not complete. Places like California, Colorado, and Utah could support healthy wolf populations if they are protected and allowed to recover in these states.
• Montana, Wyoming and Idaho — where wolves have already been delisted — are not managing wolves like other wildlife -- they're managing wolves back to extinction. 
• Wolves belong! These important predators are a beautiful part of the web of life, lending stability to ecosystems and keeping our landscapes wild.

PETITIONS:

Born Free USA
Center for Biological Diversity
Animal Welfare Institute
Friends of the Earth
Endangered Species Coalition
Humane Society
Sierra Club
Earth Justice
NRDC
Defenders of Wildlife
Western Environmental Law Center (added 4/26)
Environmental Action (added 5/5)
Sierra Club (added 5/13)

LINK TO PRINT SIGNS OR SHARE GRAPHICS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Please also send a copy of your comment as a letter to your state governor and to your Members of Congress.