A smattering of protests Monday in cities from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Seattle drew attention to wolf-hunting as well as to Thursday’s deadline for comments on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list.
A pro-wolf organization called Wolf and Wildlife Action Group scheduled about a dozen “civil disobedience actions” across the Midwest and West, primarily in states that allow wolf hunts. Several demonstrations attracted media coverage, especially in Montana.
Leslie Howry of Laredo, Texas, one of the leading organizers of the protests collectively called “The Wolf Howl Heard Around the World,” says the group opposes delisting, and any wolf hunting, and believes current wolf-hunting practices are inhumane.
“They are gunned down from helicopters, they are run down by snowmobiles and ATVs, they are torn apart by dogs while they are caught in cruel leg-hold traps,” Howry states on her Facebook page.
Demonstrations were scheduled this week to publicize the March 27 deadline to comment on the FWS proposal to remove the gray wolf from the List of Endgangered and Threatened Wildlife.
A group of about five people in Cheyenne neglected to obtain a permit for their protest at the Capitol, but were allowed to gather on the sidewalk. When one woman climbed the steps to the Capitol doorway, she was briefly arrested, according to KGWN Channel 5.
“Without civil disobedience or protest, no one will do anything,” Donald Stedman told the news station. “You can ask, and ask, and it only goes the wrong way, not our way, against the wolf.”
Mandy Varona, a self-proclaimed “wolf warrior” who organized a “group howl” in Seattle, became interested in the issue after reading newspaper accounts that the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife killed seven wolves in eastern Washington that were suspected of killing or injuring 16 calves on a ranch.
“They just shot them from helicopters,” she told the radio station. “It just shocked me.”
A protest in Helena, Mont., also on Monday, was notable for a speech by Blackfeet spiritual leader James St. Goddard who tried to meet with Gov. Steve Bullock earlier this month while carrying a bison heart wrapped in a plastic bag, the Independent Record reported. Following the demonstration, the governor’s chief of staff invited St. Goddard to meet with him.
In addition to protesting the killing of wolves, the Helena group spoke out against killing of bison outside Yellowstone National Park and the potential hunting of grizzly bears.
About a dozen wolf advocates gathered at a city park in Missoula, Mont., to object to what protester Seth Hogue called “a management plan rife with errors.”
In response to the pro-wolf protest, the Missoulian reported, a passing man yelled from the Higgins Avenue Bridge, “I stand in protest to the wolves!”
I think the Blackfeet “Spiritual Leader” James Goddard is barking up the wrong tree. Maybe he should start first on his own doorstep, at the Blackfeet Reservation where they kill wolves themselves. Google Blackfeet wolf plan to read a little on how they plan to manage problem wolves and other wolves that are decimating the elk and moose. I love how prowolf people always play the American Indian card. Like its an atrocity to all of the tribes to hunt wolves. When historically the Cherokee, Kwakiutl, Apache, Eskimo, Ahtna and many many other tribes all killed wolves. Even in todays world just in Montana alone the Salish, Kootenai, Pend d’ Orielle and Blackfeet all kill wolves. I have personally hunted wolf with a Nez Perce man more than a few times. I understand that to some tribes wolves are considered sacred and family but please understand that many other tribes view the wolves as sacred but they still comprehend they need to be managed.
“Management” is fine, but many politicians and a majority of ranchers and hunters understand “management” as a virtual license to completely clear the various States of wolves entirely.
It took our ancestors 400 years to get rid of the vermin and then you re-introduce them and protect them? This is a sick country. Get yourself a dog.
:) I wish someone would help these amazing animals.. ignore the rude comments.. wolves are apart of the environment .theres not that many wolves left I believe in management too but not just going out to kill for fun. I only hunt wen I need food .
SAVE THE WOLVES!!!