Bush Administration violated Endangered Species Act

A Federal Judge in Portland ruled today that "the Bush administration violated the Endangered Species Act when it relaxed protections on many of the nation's gray wolves." The US Fish and Wildlife Service had reclassified Eastern and Western populations of the wolves to threatened status. "The court chastised the Bush Administration's policy as not based on science or the law and as merely an attempt to remove the wolf from the Endangered Species Act list as quickly as possible. " The Fish and Wildlife Service Defines a threatened species as: An animal or plant species likely to become endangered within the
foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

While this is good news for the further protection of the endangered Gray Wolves in the lower 48 states, Alaska is a whole 'nother story. That state has begun issuing permits to allow aerial hunting of wolves. Basically, you can get a helicopter or plane and shoot wolves, that are in no way threatening you, from the sky. Alaskans twice voted to ban the practice in statewide referendums, but the Alaska Board of Game resumed the practice anyway. For more on this issue, and what you can do, visit the Defenders of Wildlife website.

posted by Sarai @ 2:27 PM