Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/29/us-usa-wolves-rally-idUSKBN0F400620140629
(Reuters) – A rally to protest sport hunting and trapping of wolves in the United States drew about 150 participants on Saturday outside the gates of Yellowstone National Park, an organizer said.
Demonstrators at the event in Gardiner, Montana, at the northwest entrance to the park called for an overhaul of government wildlife management policies for the animals.
Thousands of wolves have been legally hunted, trapped or snared in the three years since the predators were removed from the federal endangered and threatened species list in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes.
“We need some places out West where wolves can be wolves without fear of being shot, trapped, strangled or beaten to death,” rally organizer Brett Haverstick said in a telephone interview.
Haverstick said roughly 150 people attended the rally, with participants coming from a range of U.S. states such as Idaho, Montana, California and Florida.
Wolves neared extinction in the Lower 48 states before coming under U.S. Endangered Species Act protections in the 1970s. Federal wildlife managers two decades ago released fewer than 100 wolves in the Yellowstone area over the objections of ranchers and hunters, who complained wolves would prey on livestock and big-game animals like elk.
Wolves in the park and its border states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were estimated at nearly 2,000 at the time of delisting and now number about 1,700 due to liberal hunting and trapping seasons and population control measures by states such as Idaho.
Ranchers and sportsmen say wolf numbers must be kept in check to reduce conflicts.
“Livestock producers have made many concessions to accommodate wolves on the landscape and the result is we have a healthy wolf population and yet a decrease in cattle depredations,” said Jay Bodner, natural resource director for the Montana Stockgrowers Association.
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho, Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis, Bernard Orr)
Exposing the Big Game 
Right On!
Excellent Justin, I laughed until I cried!!
Oh wait, I was talking about your new video on the sadistic wolf hunters….oooops.
This was a gathering of wolf advocates to affirm and support all necessary protection of our wolves and to work at stopping the genocide of our wolves that is taking place in the states that the wolves have been removed from the federal endangered list. Delisting of wildlife should not be based on political reasons needs to be done on scientific basis, and scientifically there is NO justification for the delisting of the GREY WOLF. If you do the research, the Grey Wolf was delisted in the states around the park by an amendment to the Federal budget appropriations legislation at that time, that was a behind the door deal done and that is not and just have never been the vehicle to get the delisting done. Shame on Congress and the Department of Interior for letting that happen.
Thank you, Justin. 😦
Hoo boy. Wouldn’t slipping in a reverse rider not subject to judicial review about relisting the wolves make some go apoplectic! 🙂
Hunters complain that wolves eat big game animals like elk. Wolves and elk have co-existed for thousands of years. Why do people continue to make that statement? Wolves eat elk to survive. The elk does not belong to hunters and trophy hunters. If wolves ate Chinese food- these same hunters would bitch that wolves wasted too many napkins. We need to think before we make statements that perpetuate part of the problem.
So many hunters, trappers and poachers ( lazy not wants to take hike and hunts ) kills Elk more than wolves, bears, cougars and coyotes….many cattles, sheep…are everywhere! No room for wildlife! The human kills them more so far! 😦
Brett did an amazing job and I want to thank him for all his hard work. The speakers were terrific, the surroundings beautiful and you could feel the wolves presence all around.
One thing in the article above I have to take issue with are the numbers that are quoted.
“Montana and Wyoming were estimated at nearly 2,000 at the time of delisting and now number about 1,700 due to liberal hunting and trapping seasons and population control measures by states such as Idaho.”
Thousands of wolves have been killed since 2009 not just 300 and there is no way there are 1700 wolves left in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. In fact nobody actually knows how many wolves are left, they’ve been killing them for almost five years in Montana and Idaho and that doesn’t count poaching, Wildlife Services, ranchers and general mortality. It’s been a mass slaughter.
Thanks for the update and for being there for the wolves!
Thanks you Justin!
I meant Thank You Justin!
Thank you so much ! The wolves are amazing animals and are a necessary part of nature to keep everything in balance. Thank you for all that you are doing to save the wolves !
Wolves do not need to be “regulated”. Any predator population self regulates so as to not have more predators than the environment can feed. You kill wolves…nature makes more to replace what you ignorantly tried to “control”. Leave them alone!
“SPEAK FOR WOLVES”…Yellowstone 2014
On behalf of myself and everyone that attended “Speak for Wolves”, I thank Brett Haverstick, for doing such an outstanding job of putting this program together. Everyone who attended left as more informed and aware individuals, with a determination to make a difference in the way wildlife and wilderness is managed in this country.
I felt privileged to attend and to listen to such a distinguished group of speakers with a passion aimed at protecting what we cherish…..It was both educational and inspirational.
The friendships and bonds formed at this event will last a lifetime.
THANKYOU, Brett Haverstick
Glad to hear it was such a success; thanks for the update Jerry
The Reuters story doesn’t even begin to cover what went on at this event.
Speaker after speaker denounced the livestock industry, hunting groups, and politics for their wanton destruction of our wildlife and wilderness.
Also chastised were the “conservation” groups that have failed to stand up to these “special interest” groups.
Hopefully, the video of this event will be made available to all interested parties.
Right, Rueters didn’t even scratch the surface. I’d like to read some transcripts of people’s speeches, if you know of any, and I’ll be glad to post the video if it comes out online.
I have video on my phone I haven’t taken off because most are too big to download to my email…so I’ll have to figure something else out but I’ll do a post tonight to give out some details.
There were about 150 to 200 people attending at various times. I was disappointed in the turnout, hoping we’d have many more people but that seems to be the way it goes with wolf rally turnout. It doesn’t take anything away from the tremendous effort Brett put into organizing this event. I am so thankful to him! It was wonderful to see so many old and new friends again and talk wolves. We had terrific speakers.
I’m sure Speak for Wolves will update their site soon.
They did tape the whole event, but I don’t know when or how it will become available.
Thank You to All the wildlife advocates for going to “Speak for Wolves” (and the coyotes, bobcats, foxes, bears, and all the other wildlife persecuted). I hope it will become an annual event. The speakers sound absolutely amazing. Many of us who could not attend were closely following what was happening.
It is indeed time to take on the environmentally-destructive livestock industry, along with their hunting/trapping buddies. The other side knows exactly what they believe, and what they want to do. Our side, has been too wishy-washy, too scattered in what we feel we need to do. Once we realize that wild nature does not have much time, and we realize we need to stand up strong, and make No Room for anymore compromise with these people, will wild nature have a fighting chance. Yes, we have an Enemy. Now, we must decide what to do with them. As I traveled across The West a few months ago, native wildlife were few, scattered, and their ecosystems were trashed. But, there sure were plenty of domesticates out there in Calif., Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, the states I traveled in: livestock, and the engineering that goes with it on the land, was ubiquitous. The whole planet is becoming domesticated. The Wild is going fast.
http://www.foranimals.org
Thanks to Justin, Jerry, Susan, & others,on this blog for your comments.