National Wolf Awareness Week starts today!
Wolves are beautiful, mysterious creatures that have long been villainized by humans; the big bad wolf, werewolves, crying wolf are just a few examples.
The coexistence of wolves and humans has long been bitter. Today the gray wolves’ future is unknown and will ultimately be decided by humans…
Humans drove the wolf in the lower 48 states nearly to extinction by the 1930s. In 1974 wolves were added to the list of endangered species under the The Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In 1995, biologist began reintroducing wolves from Canada to Yellowstone National Park. The comeback of wolves in the lower 48 is seen as a great success. To some it stops there, but to others the continued protection of this vulnerable species is essential for their survival and a healthy ecosystem.
Since the 2000s the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and numerous conservation groups have been fighting over the status of wolves. As the population of wolves began to grow, the FWS pushed to strip gray wolves of their ESA protections in some states. Years of lawsuits, counter suits, and court rulings has the gray wolf on and off the endangered species lists multiple times.
In 2011 congress stripped ESA protections for wolves in all of Montana and Idaho, and a portions of Washington, Utah and Oregon. This was the 1st time that a endangered species was removed from the list by politics instead of science. Wolves have also been delisted in Wyoming. They remain protected in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Recently politicians have started to push towards delisting gray wolves from the endangered species list for all of the lower 48 states.
Help protect gray wolves by spreading the word of their importance.
#bewolfaware movement
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