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Never Cry Wolf

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I noticed that one of the stories getting a lot of press these days is the proposal to take gray wolves off the endangered species list.  Most of the articles view this is yet another plot by the Republicans, and worse Obama, to vilify wolves.  Yet, this is a proposal put forward by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, not partisan lawmakers.

The Fish and Wildlife Service notes that gray wolves have made tremendous gains in the Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes region.  Director Dan Ashe wants to call attention to a far more pressing problem in the Mexican gray wolf, which is struggling in the Southwest states.  Ashe feels that the northern gray wolf population can fend for itself.

To show how outdated these alarmist stories are.  The Rocky Mountain wolf was removed from the endangered species list in 2011, which was supported by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, because the wolf was posing a threat to elk, moose and deer.

It seems you really have to dig through the news today to find the original sources.  What's worse is that the stories are often truncated into memes and spread across facebook by political activist organizations.  I'm sure there are a lot of Republicans who would like to see wolves removed from the endangered species list all together, since in general they are against any form of regulation, but in this case the proposed removal was the result of careful study, not political wrangling.


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