Saying the Trump administration “willfully ignored” the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it comes to gray wolves, Reps. Beyer (D-VA), Grijalva (D-AZ), and DeFazio (D-OR) sent a request to House Democrats to take action.
Take action by asking New Hampshire’s Congressional members to join this effort!
In the Dear Colleague letter, House Democrats are invited to sign-on to ask Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to relist the gray wolf under the ESA.
From the letter:
As an apex species, wolves play a critical role in ecosystems by keeping deer and elk populations in check, which has a positive effect on other plant and animal species. Carcasses from wolves’ prey also provide food for other scavenger species. Recent studies have even found that by killing deer near roads and highways, or even just intimidating them to stay away, wolves are reducing deer-vehicle collisions by 25%. Removing wolf populations from ecosystems around the country will have a myriad of unintended consequences for countless communities.
Dear Colleague letter, “Protect the Gray Wolf!” sent by Honorable Donald S. Beyer, Jr.
The letter notes that after the Trump administration eliminated ESA protections, several Northwestern and Midwestern states created anti-wolf policy. Wisconsin immediately issued more hunting tags than they have wolves to assign them. The Idaho Senate passed a measure that could approve killing 90% of the state’s gray wolves, and Montana recently passed a law allowing for choke-hold snares.
On July 1, 400 scientists publicly urged the Department of Interior to relist the gray wolf.
