I heard some encouraging news today from a diehard activist who has called every one of the Minnesota state representatives listed as contacts for the bill to reinstate a five-year moratorium on recreational wolf hunting and trapping. She learned that of all the issues, they were hearing the most about the wolf issue and one staffer said, “he has not taken ONE call against the bill.

Her message to us is, “Please keep up the calls people—its making a difference!”

Here’s the info again and the contact info, from Howling For Wolves:

Today, legislation was introduced into the Minnesota House of Representatives to reinstate a five-year moratorium on recreational wolf hunting and trapping. Chief house author, Rep. Jason Isaacson (DFL – Shoreview) introduced H.F. 1163, the companion bill for S.F. 666 introduced by Sen. Chris Eaton. The bill calls for a five-year wait before another wolf hunting season can be proposed, and only for population management purposes after other options are explored. Read the press release here.

Mark your calendars! A Senate hearing of the bill has been scheduled on Tuesday, March 12 at noon before the Environment and Energy committee. Let’s fill the hearing room and the halls for the wolf. It was your efforts making calls and sending emails to committee members that pushed us forward.

Now we need your help to secure a hearing in the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy committee. A bill must be heard and passed out of one committee before March 15, 2013 to stay alive. Please call the committee members listed below to voice your support for H.F. 1163 and request the bill be heard and passed through committee.

House Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee Rep. David Dill (Chair) 651-296-2190 Rep. Peter Fischer (Vice Chair) 651-296-5363 Rep. Tom Hackbarth 651-296-2439 Rep. John Benson 651-296-9934 Rep. Tony Cornish 651-296-4240 Rep. Dan Fabian 651-296-9635 Rep. Andrew Falk 651-296-4228 Rep. Steve Green 651-296-9918 Rep. Rick Hansen 651-296-6828 Rep. Clark Johnson 651-296-8634 Rep. Denny McNamara 651-296-3135 Rep. John Persell 651-296-5516 Rep. Mark Uglem 651-296-5513 Rep. Jean Wagenius 651-296-4200 Rep. JoAnn Ward 651-296-7807 Rep. Barb Yarusso 651-296-0141

Please know that to work a bill into law requires many repeated actions to push it through. We will have several urgent requests for actions over the next few weeks to keep each bill moving forward to a final floor vote. In the meantime, mark your calendars for the Senate hearing on Tuesday, March 12 at 12 pm. Please email us atrespond@howlingforwolves.org if you are able to attend. We want a strong showing of support at this hearing.

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Meanwhile in Montana,

Another activist writes, “I counted the public comments MTFWP received in January about the Wolf Hunt closure next to Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Overwhelmingly the votes were in favor of a closure. I kept a strict count of all the Montana comments and was pretty close on the others too.  Here’s my count:

There were a total of 1811 comments.

750 of those comments were from Montanans:

•554 in favor of a wolf hunt closure around YNP

•196 opposed to a closure around YNP

1061 comments were from out of state, USA citizens and some from overseas

•~1058 were in favor of a wolf hunt closure, protecting YNP wolves

•~3 were opposed

As wolf advocate Justin Forte put it, “This dictatorship that hunters and ranchers have had over the rest of us on wildlife policy has gone on for too long! It is time for all of us to stand up and say ‘No More!’”

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved