Three Mexican gray alpha male wolves have been found dead – one a month since September. At the last official count, there were only 83 wild Mexican gray wolves clinging to survival. Just 83. Despite this, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is still trying to move forward with a flawed management proposal they call a first step. We call it a slow walk to extinction. Tell FWS to fix this mess and give the wolves a chance! FWS’ own recovery team scientists have told the agency that Mexican gray wolves will not be safe from extinction unless there are three separate populations that wolves can move between. There need to be at least 750 wolves total, and there must be fewer killings of these rare wolves. While this proposal offers the remaining wolves a larger area to roam, FWS would make it legal to kill them for multiple reasons (including if officials think they eat too many elk). It would also put arbitrary limits on the population and keep these wolves out of the habitats they desperately need to survive. Time is running out – submit your official comment opposing this deadly proposal! FWS has even said they will consider killing wolves if they grow to be “too many” which they defined as being 300 to 325 wolves in the wild! Time is running out for these wolves. Without the release of new wolves, especially breeding pairs, and the establishment of new populations, Mexican gray wolves will slowly go extinct in the wild. With so few wild lobos left in the world, they deserve a real chance to recover – not flawed decisions that would amount to a slow and certain death sentence. You are their last chance. It’s too late for the three dead alpha males, but there are still others we can save. Please take just a moment to submit your official comments to FWS, demanding a management plan that will save these wolves. Thank you for everything you do. Sincerely, Eva Sargent, Southwest Program Director Eva Sargent Southwest Program Director Defenders of Wildlife
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 18:00:25 +0000