A TIME TO GIVE THANKS

NOVEMBER 2020

2020 has been a difficult year. Every one of us has been impacted by Covid.

Some of you have lost your job and are struggling to make ends meet. Others are working from home while coping with on-line learning with children.

Many have faced the ultimate challenge after the loss of a loved one.

We long to gather with friends and family.

Still, there is hope. We are thankful for the many successful recoveries and for the thousands who participated in clinical trials. Because of them, a vaccine is on the horizon.

We are thankful for the sacrifices of front-line workers.

Until our lives can return to normal, be like a wolf.

This holiday season, socially distance, stay with your pack and mask up and save those around you.

WOLVES DELISTED

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently published a rule to return gray wolf management authority to the states and tribes in most of the Lower 48 states. This fatally flawed decision will become effective 1/4/2021.

This means, it will be up to individual states with suitable wolf habitat, but no viable wolf populations, to decide to protect wolves - or not.

This decision opens the door for states in the Great Lakes Region (Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan) to begin planning for wolf hunts.

The new rule ignores scientific evidence showing that wolves remain threatened, and prematurely abandons the prospect of recovery in areas like the West Coast and Southern Rockies where these animals have only just begun to reestablish a foothold.

But, there is good news. Just two days after USFWS announced its decision, a coalition of Western wolf advocates filed a notice of intent to sue U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, launching a challenge of the agency’s decision to prematurely strip wolves of federal protections in the contiguous 48 states, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. Also, on November 6th, a notice of intent to sue was filed by a coalition of groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Oregon Wild, National Parks Conservation Association, and The Humane Society of the United States.

Colorado Voters Howl Yes

Sometime within the next three years, there will be wolf paws on the ground and their howls will echo across the landscape after Colorado voters said yes to Proposal 114.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will now develop a plan and reintroduce enough gray wolves to the state to ensure the survival of a population.

We applaud and thank the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project and our representative on the committee, Kris Gayler, for their efforts in making this happen.

For the wolf to thrive in Colorado, public education will be paramount.

It will be critical to counter misinformation, dispel myths and fears and improve the public understanding of behavior, ecology and the benefits wolves provide.

THANK YOU!

Without YOU, our loyal supporters, the National Wolfwatcher Coalition would not exist. We are appreciative of your support throughout the past years and look forward to your continued support in the future!

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