Speaking up for wildlife on the frontline of the climate crisis
Asha the Mexican wolf has again eluded game managers and roamed into Northern New Mexico, likely on her way to Colorado.
Although still referred to as the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the ESA is no longer the act that President Nixon signed fifty years ago. President Reagan signed a 1982 amendment adding Section 10 to allow James Watt, his Interior Secretary, to designate wildlife populations as experimental, denying them full ESA protection. Current Interior … Read full post
The annual report of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish acknowledges that their operations depend on “the combined support of hunters, trappers and anglers.” Together with the State Game Commission, they have opposed trapping restrictions. For years they opposed Mexican wolf reintroduction, but now they participate in the program to restrict wolves to to a limited experimental area.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service, currently run by … Read full post
Predator-killing contests and killing Yellowstone wolves have become an embarrassment to self-styled “ethical” hunters who promote their North American Model of wildlife conservation. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported a “Record number of Mexican wolves found dead in 2018,” one notoriously dying at the hands of rancher Craig Thiessen. The Federal government, which otherwise has not been protecting wolves,at least managed to revoke Thiessen’s permit to run cows on public land.
State game departments … Read full post
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed drastic reductions in wildlife protection. Proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) would severely reduce protection for threatened species and their critical habitat. While Congress is considering various laws to weaken the ESA and to eliminate protection for gray wolves, Zinke’s plan would use his current legal authority to remove protection for threatened species.
Since the original ESA was passed in 1973, Congress has passed numerous laws … Read full post
