A Plea for Our Wolves

Once again, I appeal to all of you to help us stand up for wolves in America.


From Defenders of Wildlife:
Yellowstone National Park’s famous Cottonwood Pack has just been destroyed - all the adult wolves have been killed and the surviving pups will likely die without their wolf family. These are just some of the latest victims of the federal government’s likely illegal decision to eliminate vital protections for our wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the northern Rockies. Please sign Defenders of Wildlife's petition and urge Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to immediately take action to restore protections for these amazing animals.The next few weeks will be crucial for wolves in the Greater Yellowstone region. The future of wolves in the northern Rockies is at a crossroads and it will take the voices of caring wildlife supporters to make a difference.

I just signed Defenders' petition to Secretary Salazar and I hope you will, too. Because for me, a world without wolves is a terrible thing to contemplate.
(Image courtsey of First People)

Please help save Idaho's Wolves

Once again, Idaho officials have announced that they plan to allow hunters to target the 1,000 wolves in Idaho, shooting and killing up to 220 wolves during this hunting season alone. The aim is to reduce the population by half, which will kill parents and leave many orphaned wolf cubs to starve to death in the harsh winter months ahead. And all this is happening because Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has rubber-stamped a Bush Administration decision to delist the wolf as an endangered species, though every scientific study done to date emphasizes that the population has not fully recovered and continues to be targeted by cattle ranchers, bounty hunters and ignorant state governors pandering to the hunting community.

If you have ever had the opportunity to see a wolf in the wild, as I have, you would never believe anyone is capable of the cold-blooded slaughter planned in Idaho. Yet in just a few days, more than four thousand - of an estimated 70,000 - wolf-killing permits have already been sold, so I urge you to please help Defenders of Wildlife save these wolves. Go here and fill out the form to send President Obama a message urging him to halt Idaho’s horrific wolf hunt and restore the Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in Idaho and Montana. It will only take a few minutes of your time and it could save these magnificent and misunderstood animals for future generations. Thank you!

Join Ashley Judd and Defenders of Wildlife to Stop the Aerial Killing of Wolves

As a long-time conservationist and animal rights activist, I am personally outraged by Sarah Palin's ongoing attack on wolves and other wildlife in Alaska via her savage aerial hunting program. Naturalists and renowned conservationists from all over the country have denounced this program as unethical, inhumane and unnecessary.

So far this year, Palin's program has slaughtered 67 wolves, with over 600 more targeted. She also wants to expand the program to include the killing of black bear sows and their cubs. Please join actress Ashley Judd, Defenders of Wildlife and myself in opposing this violent assault on defenseless animals - a practice that Alaskan voters have twice voted against and Palin has overturned. You can sign the petition to stop the program and support Defender's efforts via the link below for Eye on Palin.

See the video (WARNING: Graphic imagery of wolves being shot and killed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFdijgMytUA

Go to Eye on Palin: http://www.eyeonpalin.org/index.php

Help save wolves

I'm trying to keep this blog unpolitical and dedicated to writers and writing, but hey, I'm human and I just can't keep silent on this. The Bush Administration has just opened a new public comment period and is inviting citizens to submit their opinions on its plan to open up the Northern Rockies to wolf-killing -- even while the wolf remains on the Endangered Species list. Sound familar? Why respect the law when you can circumvent it? Anyway, this "License to Kill" plan would allow Wyoming and Idaho to gun down nearly 600 wolves. Why? So that hunters can have the ease of finding elk in the same places and in the same numbers that they've grown used to. Wolves are being blamed for the few documented cases where elk herds have shrunk, even though the declines were caused by drought, shrinking habitat and the very same human hunters -- not just wolves. Put simply, wolves will be destroyed for doing what they're supposed to do: maintain a healthy ecosystem by preying on elk. Wyoming wants to kill as many wolves as the federal government will allow. And the state is prepared to spend a scandalous amount of taxpayer money -- more than $2 million a year -- to get the deed done.

I'm outraged. If you are, go here and register your opposition:
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/Act_Now_To_Protect_Gray_WolvesIII