The World’s Deadliest Creature
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Monthly Archives: March 2013
The First Slugs and Other Signs of Spring
I’m getting pretty low on firewood, but not worry–Spring must be right around the corner. Today I saw the first turkey vulture of the season being chased by a pair of overprotective prospective raven parents, the slugs have awakened from their long winters’ nap and the ducks are back in the pond, preparing to nest.
Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved
It’s high time Ted was “either dead or in jail…” like he promised.
Pitched in an unfair “cage fight” to the death, a terrified fox is given no chance of escaping the jaws of two powerful terriers while a gang of thugs joke and laugh at the brutality they are capturing on camera.
In another sickening scene, one of the dog-fighters brazenly holds up the body of a blooded fox in one hand while cradling his terrier in the other to show off his handiwork.
Northern Wisconsin? Nope, England. And there it is a crime.
Today, I came across an article about sadists in England that would put their dogs in pens with foxes and allow them rip the fox to shreds.
Jailed, thugs who revelled in animal torture
From the article:
“They revelled in the cruelty they inflicted and kept thousands of images for repeat gratification. They had no regard for the welfare of the dogs they used as their tools of…
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Wolf Hunting With AR-15
1092 WOLVES SLAUGHTERED IN WOLF HUNTS SINCE 8/30/2012
And it’s not over yet. Idaho’s wolf hunt continues.
How many wolves have to die?
When will the brutality end?
So many wolf families destroyed, untold suffering!
Will you speak for them?
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WHY?
700
OR-16 shot dead near Lowman, Idaho
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Idaho Says Make It Hurt!
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Yellowstone Lamar Canyon Alpha Female (O6) Shot Dead Fifteen Miles Outside The Park
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Photos Courtesy: survivaltechniques101.com,AR15dotcom forbidanimalcrueltydotcom, tracksandsignsblogspot dot com, earth island journal, wikipedia commons, whitewolfpackdotcom, LA Times, Ann Sydow
Posted in: Wolf Wars
Tags: 1092 wolves killed for blood lust, wolf wars, unconscionable, stop the wolf hunts, stand up for wolves, wolf killing states, Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Minnesota, AR-15dotcom
“It seems like a waste,” said Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City. “It’s another challenge to federal authority to protect wildlife. The problem isn’t even here.”
See Above: Big Game Forever Got The Same Amount Last Year To Lobby Against Wolves…Salt Lake Tribune
Update: March 10, 2013
It looks like SFW founder, Don Peay, will be getting a nice fat check, $300,000 to be exact, of taxpayer money, thanks to the Utah Legislature’s ” natural resources budget committee”, to lobby against wolves. Don Peay is also a founder ofBig Game Forever.
The Democrats tried their best to remove the money from the spending plan, but to no avail.
Last year, $300,000 was awarded to Big Game Forever to lobby against wolves. Deja vu’?
And where’s the accountability?
“After hearing a similar pitch from Big Game Forever co-founder Ryan Benson, the Legislature last year appropriated $300,000 to fund wolf-related lobbying, with virtually no oversight of precisely how the money was used or what it accomplished.“…Salt Lake Tribune
Further:
“The wolf-lobby contract does require…
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Who’s the “Varmint?”
Who the fuck do the South Dakotians (or South Dakotites, or whatever the hell they’re called) think they are, labeling wolves “varmints”? Last week, their state legislators passed a bill to reclassify wolves from protected to “varmint,” lumping them in with coyotes, foxes, skunks, gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, jackrabbits, marmots, porcupines, crows, and prairie dogs, all of whom were native to the state before modern humans came along and branded them with that degrading epithet.
The reclassification of wolves in South Dakota seems a bit hasty, as there are currently no known wolves living there. Sure, they occasionally pass through the state in search of greener, or wilder, pastures. Three such adventuresome lone wolves (probably young males) were killed in different parts of the state in 2012—one was hit by a car near Pine Ridge, one died in a lethal trap set for coyotes and another was shot outside the town of Custer, in a case of “mistaken identity” (mistaken, no doubt, for a coyote—a “varmint” species which can be killed on sight year-round).
Wolf advocates should know that the malicious evil the wolves have been forced to endure at the hands of humans for the past couple of years is the same kind of brutality coyotes have suffered from the get go. Now, with their reclassification, anyone with a South Dakota hunting license that allows them to shoot predators will be able to shoot wolves too.
There isn’t a more arrogant term than “varmint” for a species far better suited to life on the open plains and prairies than humans could ever hope to be.
Var•mint
noun. Informal [vahr-muhnt] Chiefly Southern and Mid-U.S.
Definition:
a. One that is considered undesirable, obnoxious, or troublesome.
b. An objectionable or undesirable animal, usually predatory, as a coyote or bobcat.
c. A despicable, obnoxious, or annoying person.
Considering the kind of mindset displayed in the following quote, “My only real regret, is that there aren’t more days in the week and more hours in a day and more days off to hunt coyotes!” the burning question is, who’s the real varmint?
The quote is from one of the operators of “Varmint Safari.”
To give you an idea what kind of people hunt “varmints,” below are their ads for a series of hunting videos this particular brand of varmint sells.
(Note the comment, “Filmed almost entirely on public land” as well as their unabashed exuberance in stating, “Hundreds of spectacular kills”)…
Four great varmint hunting videos!
Varmint Safari 4 features:
• 90 minutes of action packed coyote hunts!
• 40 kills by recreational callers just like you!
Varmint Safari 3 features:
• Western Rock Chuck hunting at its finest!
• Filmed almost entirely on public land
Varmint Safari II features:
• 3 Hours of solid varmint hunting action!
• Coyotes, Prairie Dogs, Chucks, Rabbits
Varmint Safari features:
• 2 Hours of hunting and information!
• Hundreds of spectacular kills!
Still not sure who the varmints are? See Definition c., above.
Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved
South Dakota Reclassifies Wolves as “Varmints”
Earlier today I posted an action alert to Urge Your Representative to Stand Up for Wolves. Well, here is an article by the AP and Mark Watson in the South Dakota’s Black Hills Pioneer (a newspaper that boasts being “local and independent since 1876”—and whose attitude toward wolves obviously has remained unchanged since then), titled, “Wolf bill likely signed into law today.” The “wolf bill” in question is actually a state anti-wolf bill which unintentionally underscores why wolves need to remain on the federal Endangered Species List…
SPEARFISH — Gov. Dennis Daugaard is expected to sign a bill today that would reclassify wolves from protected species in the state to predators or varmints in East River counties.
SB 205 received final Legislative action on Feb. 26 when the House approved it 60-9. It passed in the Senate unanimously 35-0.
The bill will classify wolves the same as coyotes, foxes, skunks, gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, jackrabbits, marmots, porcupines, crows, and prairie dogs, but only in Eastern South Dakota. They will still remain protected by federal and state law West River.
In 2012, wolves residing in the Great Lakes population, which includes Eastern South Dakota, were removed from the federal Endangered Species Act. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working on plan that would delist the wolves West River as well.
Wolves don’t often roam across South Dakota, however there have been confirmed sightings. Wolves are occasionally killed by vehicles. One was killed in Harding County by a lethal trap set for coyotes and one was shot in 2012 near Custer. Olson said that one was seen just south of her Harding County ranch in February, however that sighting, like most others, lack physical evidence and are not confirmed.
The wolves that do traverse the state come from both the Rocky Mountain packs as well as the Great Lakes packs. They are typically younger males searching out mates and new territory.
Montana officials said that 255 wolves were killed in the 2012-2013 hunting and trapping season. Wyoming reported about 60 wolves killed. In Wisconsin, 117 were killed and in Minnesota, 395 were killed.
Scott Larson, a field supervisor with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Pierre, said a proposed rule by the service regarding the delisting wolves in West River should be issued this spring.
“It will be part of a larger effort,” Larson said. “The Rocky Mountain population and the Great Lakes populations have been delisted, but they are protected in most of the Lower 48 where we don’t have plans for any recovery efforts. … When you have a recovered population you have transients that move out into area where there is not suitable habitat. It doesn’t make any sense to have the protection status different.”
But dozens of U.S. House members don’t want that to happen.
A letter signed by 52 representatives [the good guys] urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to not drop wolves from the endangered species list in areas where it hasn’t already been done. The comeback of the wolf populations in the western Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies is “a wildlife success story in the making,” the lawmakers said in a letter distributed by Reps. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats. But it added that because of lingering human prejudice, “federal protection continues to be necessary to ensure that wolf recovery is allowed to proceed in additional parts of the country.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to return wolves to the Southwest, despite court battles and resistance from ranchers. It’s also reviewing the status of wolves and their potential habitat in the Pacific Northwest, where perhaps 100 of the animals are believed to roam, and in the Northeast, which has no established population although occasional sightings have been reported.
“The outcome of these reviews will identify which, if any, gray wolves should continue to receive protections under the Endangered Species Act outside of the boundaries of the recovered populations and the Southwest population,” agency spokesman Chris Tollefson said.
…
…And which wolves, by contrast, will be classified as “varmints,” the same as coyotes, foxes, skunks, gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, jackrabbits, marmots, porcupines, crows, and prairie dogs, as South Dakota has done.
Speaking of prairie dogs, please sign on to this pledge for that beleaguered cornerstone species:
Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson
Urge Your Representatives to Stand Up For Wolves
America’s wolves are under attack but it doesn’t have to be that way. Each and every politician, whether they are Tea Party Republicans, moderates from either party or progressive Democrats, must know that from now on if they support or enable the sadistic persecution and criminal massacre of America’s wolves and other native wildlife, they will be outed before their voting constituents and the American public. The free ride for politicians who support this or that just cause, while abandoning America’s native wildllife to animal abusers and brutal killers is over. America’s wildlife is owned by no one and according to the Public Trust Doctrine, they belong to all citizens equally. It is time that all native species are managed in a way that reflects the far more respectful ethical values and collective wisdom of the majority of today, which has evolved to be that all native species must be respected, conserved and protected, for current and future generations and most of all, for the ecological health of the country and the planet. — Robert Goldman, Protect America’s Wolves! petition and action campaign
Dear Geoffrey, We accomplished a good thing for America’s wolves over the past couple of weeks. US Representatives Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, with help from their fellow US Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, circulated a pro-wolf letter among their 435 colleagues in the US House of Representatives. This letter urged the US Fish & Wildlife Service to keep federal protections in place for America’s wolves in the 45 states where they are still protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Our efforts, YOUR efforts, helped boost the numbers of Congressmen and women who signed on to this letter from 30 to 52 signers, during the last two days of last week! These decent men and women hail from dozens of states from New England to the South to the Upper Midwest, the Rockies, the Southwest and the West Coast. The letter was just delivered to the Director of the US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Here is the honor roll of those men and women in the US Congress who stepped forward for America’s wolves in their time of need, all 52 of them: (D) = Democrat, (R) = Republican
US Rep. Peter DeFazio (D) of Oregon US Rep. Ed Markey (D) of Massachusetts US Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R) of Pennsylvania US Rep. George Miller (D) of California US Rep. Sander Levin (D) of Michigan US Rep. John Conyers (D) of Michigan US Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California US Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D) of Connecticut US Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) of Maryland US Rep. Elijah Cummings (D) of Maryland US Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) of Arizona US Rep. Jim Moran (D) of Virginia US Rep. Anna Eshoo (D) of California US Rep. Sam Farr (D) of California US Rep. Floyd Doggett (D) of Texas US Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) of Oregon US Rep. Diana DeGette (D) of Colorado US Rep. James McGovern (D) of Massachusetts US Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) of California US Rep. Brad Sherman (D) of California US Rep. John Tierney (D) of Massachusetts US Rep. Lois Capps (D) of California US Rep. Barbara Lee (D) of California US Rep. Grace Napolitano (D) of California US Rep. Jim McDermott (D) of Washington State US Rep. William Lacy Clay (D) of Missouri US Rep. Michael Honda (D) of California US Rep. Steve Israel (D) of New York US Rep. Jim Langevin (D) of Rhode Island US Rep. Betty McCollum (D) of Minnesota US Rep. Adam Schiff (D) of California US Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D) of Illinois US Rep. Keith Ellison (D) of Minnesota US Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) of California US Rep. John Sarbanes (D) of Maryland US Rep. Peter Welch (D) of Vermont US Rep. Niki Tsongas (D) of Massachusetts US Rep. James Himes (D) of Connecticut US Rep. Gary Peters (D) of Michigan US Rep. Jared Polis (D) of Colorado US Rep. Paul Tonko (D) of New York US Rep. Judy Chu (D) of California US Rep. Theodore Deutch (D) of Florida US Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) of New Hampshire US Rep. David Cicilline (D) of Rhode Island US Rep. William Keating (D) of Massachusetts US Rep. Madeline Bordallo (D) of Guam (US territory) US Rep. Ron Barber (D) of Arizona US Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D) of New Jersey US Rep. Bradley Schneider (D) of Illinois US Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) of Arizona US Rep. Grace Meng (D) of New York ________________________________________
HERE’S THE ACTIONS FOR YOU TO TAKE. PLEASE DO IT, PLEASE TAKE ACTION:
(Here’s the phone number of the US Capitol switchboard: 1-202-224-3121. You can call this phone number, ask for your US Rep and you’ll be connected to his or her office.) 1. Is YOUR US Rep. on the honor roll above? If YES, please call and thank him or her for doing the right thing! (at 1-202-224-3121) Encourage them to keep voting to protect America’s wolves and all of America’s native wildlife. It’s very important to do this. Expressing your appreciation and support is the decent thing to do and encourages positive votes in the future.
2. Is YOUR US Rep. missing from this honor roll above? If your US Rep did NOT sign, please call your him or her (at 1-202-224-3121) Ask their staff why your Rep. did not sign the letter? Also, tell them that you, as a constituent and a voter noticed their lack of public support for protecting America’s wolves and how important that is to you.
3. For all wolf defenders, who live in the US or around the world, you are encouraged to contact Dan Ashe, Director of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Phone: 1-800-344-9453, EMail: www.fws.gov/duspit/contactus.htm Urge Mr. Ashe to honor the pro-wolf letter he just received from 52 members of the US Congress, by keeping federal protections in place for America’s wolves in the 45 states where they are still federally protected.
Remind your US Rep. (and Mr. Ashe) that science has clearly demonstrated that America’s native wolves and all natural predators are vital for every healthy ecosystem. They keep their prey species healthy and strong, while ensuring biodiversity – a healthy and balanced landscape with the presence of diverse wildlife, plants and trees, and that such healthy landscapes are vital for people, too. Where wolves are wild and free, it has been demonstrated repeatedly that their prey species are not only healthier but these prey populations often increase with wolves on the land! And wolf depridation of cattle is almost non-existent, the cattlemen are lying about wolves. In states with both wolves and cattle, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, wolves take a mere .000029% of cattle, which is statistically just about ZERO. The wolf “problem” is in reality a people problem – a primitive, cultural hatred, by a vocal and brutal minority – of the vital, innocent and beautiful wolf, that must be consigned to the past where it belongs. And finally, without federal protections, we have all witnessed unethical state wildlife agency mis-“management” (= massive killing) that allows for sadistic persecution and slaughter of wolves, including wolf pups, by a bizarre collection of ignorant sport killers, creepy trappers and others who need far more control placed on them than wolves and other vital and innocent native wildlife do. ______________________________________
Stay tuned for more wolf defender actions to come!
Thank you for America’s ecologically vital and beautiful wolves, Robert Goldman Protect America’s Wovles! petition and action campaign http://signon.org/sign/protect-americas-wolves?mailing_id=9980&source=s.icn.em.cr&r_by=4912027
P.S. Please forward this email to all your respectful, humane and wildlife-loving friends so they can help defend America’s wolves, too! Visit Predator Defense at www.predatordefense.org and view their recently produced video “The Imperiled American Wolf.” It will further inspire you and others to take action to defend wolves NOW when they most need our help!
Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson
Exposing the Big Game 