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The war that humans have generated against wolves has had several flames lit under it, such as stories pertaining to humans being attacked by them. News items, similar to the one regarding the Alaskan jogger who was found dead, supposedly killed by wolves, have only served to douse petroleum on the fire.

Since the United States government literally gutted the endangered species act in favor of big business, there has been a green light for corporations and hunters to decimate wildlife, increasing the destruction of our environment.

The current United States administration’s promises to mend certain ecologic wrongs in this nation have obviously, yet to be realized. It has allowed the complete “de-listing” of many animals, including wolves, showing the continued lack of  intentions on keeping said promises.

Instead of viewing wolves as one species, the federal government has allowed the fates of specific breeds, and those within specific states, to be determined by state legislature. So in short, the United States government has been systematically washing its hands of the issue, allowing individual states to exterminate the wolves, at their leisure.

This is accomplished via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by classifying certain groups as a Distinct Population Segment(DPS) and removing them from the Endangered Species List. According to the research provided by several animal welfare and wildlife groups, there are only some 5000(400,000 before Europeans arrived in the Americas) gray wolves left in the continental United States and the red wolf is all but extinct. In some states, there are no wolves left at all.

Alaska’s gray wolf population was estimated in between 7,000 and 11,000 in 2009. Keep in mind, this was prior to their “de-listing” and the wolf culling of 2010 was sure to decimate that number. It has become more and more difficult to receive an “up to date” state count from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, as it seems they are no longer responsible for their numbers. An on-line visit to their site seeking current population numbers has lead us to disabled links. Since we can no longer find proper information regarding the current numbers in Alaska, we must assume that the culling was vast.

Wolves are a keystone species. Their presence in an ecosystem positively affects a vast number of significant components in a complex web that comprises the whole of the environmental structure. Wolves keep grazing herd and smaller predator population under control. Their burrows provide suitable habitat for other species, including flora and in general, their absence causes a significant deforesting, due to the fact that humans can not properly control the aforementioned numbers of other species, without their presence. No amount of  human-induced “wildlife management” will be able to find a proper balance in nature, better than nature, itself. There is only one reason why wolves are targeted, which is obviously to erase these necessary components in the environmental structure from existence, so that they can no longer compete with human hunters.

We must take action in the face of the attacks that been inflicted upon wolves. Start by signing the PETITION TO PERMANENTLY END LETHAL WOLF MANAGEMENT. The future of the species in North America appears grim, at best, due to humanity’s “Neanderthal-like” brutal folly. Please put aside differences in ideology and band together for the fate of this keystone species. Please watch the video, “Hunting Wolves, Saving Wolves” here on PBS and unite to defend the majestic wolf.

Please do not allow this senseless slaughter to continue. Please read “Dead wolf photos stir tensions in West”. More petitions to sign below:

Protect Wolves From Federal Sharpshooters!

End wolf torture in Northern Rockies!

Anthony Damiano
Founder of AELLA