Yowzer – this article seems to say that’s looking like the case.

AND they just walked here rather than were dragged kicking an screaming. Better yet!

Best of luck to these groups sueing the federal government concerning landing helicopters in WILDERNESS AREAS in order to collor wolves!

Based on the comments to the story, Idahoans don’t actually recognize “wilderness” for being “wilderness” vs National Forest or some other such designation.

The big question in this story about 3 cheetahs and an antelope is will the antelope, remove a thorn from one of these cheetah’s paws some time in the future……

Last year Jon Stossel had a show suggesting that wild animals should become private property and then they wouldn’t be endangered. Like chickens aren’t endangered.

I suggested the idea was idiotic and would lead to ….. what’s going on now.

For every one wild tiger alive in the world today, there may be three “farmed” tigers in China.
They have been bred for their hides but also their bones, which are used to infuse some wines prized in South East Asia.
Some in the region believe that the consumption of certain parts of a tiger’s carcass can give strength and virility.
China banned the trade in tiger bones and products in 1993 but that has not stopped the practice, which is currently on the agenda of an international tiger conservation conference in Thailand.

Having “farmed” tigers exist, is not keeping them from being endangered. Their lives are not tiger lives and if I were a tiger………………………

Stossel didn’t know what he was talking about. I hope he changes his tune.

In South America they are starting to use dogs to sniff out scat of certain animals that scientists are wanting to study.

…..I’m pretty sure hunters have been using dogs since forever.

Somehow, someway, an email got through to my dad who, though he respects my opinions and listens is also one who could quickly use the term ‘environmental wackjob’ in a lot of instances.

This is the email he forwarded to me so I could take action.
(and this is the link to a fabricated letter to Mr. Salazar concerning wolf hunting AFTER breeding season has started.)

Protect Northern Rockies Wolf Mothers and Unborn Pups
From the Crosshairs

“For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation’s most threatened wildlife, and we should be looking for ways to improve it — not weaken it.”
– President Obama, speech to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the Department of the Interior

Dear xxxxxxx,

Fifteen years ago this month, the first wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. It was one of the greatest conservation achievements of the last century.

Now this amazing achievement — and the lives of hundreds of wolves, including pregnant mothers and their unborn pups — is at risk.

Take action now. Urge President Obama to restore life-saving federal protections for wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the northern Rockies.

The premature removal of northern Rockies wolves form the Endangered Species List last March has already had deadly consequences for the fragile population. More than 500 wolves have been killed this season in Idaho and Montana.

Tell President Obama to restore the protections of the Endangered Species Act to wolves.

And it’s getting worse for wolves in Idaho. The state extended its hunting season until March 31. Now hunting season overlaps with mating season, putting pregnant wolf mothers and their unborn pups in the crosshairs.

Care2.com and our partners at Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund believe that science should be at the heart of the Endangered Species Act. Obama agrees: He promised to make decisions based on the scientific process when it comes to wildlife protection. But under his watch, northern Rockies wolves are more threatened than ever.

Obama must honor his promises to protect wildlife. Urge him to re-list northern Rockies wolves.

Thanks for taking action!

Emily V.
Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team

Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFTiu/zkgQ/b4CYi
Connect with Care2!
And follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/actionalerts

http://twitter.com/care2causes

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People, real, regular people, not just nutjobs like me care about this stuff. Somehow we have to get them relaying the message.
Whatever it is about this email that got through, I admire it!

(And just for that dad, I’ll actually read your next 3 forwards!)

On January 14, Secretary of Agriculture Ken Salazar sent this column out to newspapers everywhere concerning wild horses.

He was wrong on many counts and today, Jack Carone corrects him.
Bottom line:

A 1990 study by the U.S. General Accountability Office has already found that cattle and sheep grazing — not free-roaming wild horses — damage range and riparian areas the most. Old and failed policies must stop now so that we don’t continue to create bigger problems.

Interesting note:

Meanwhile, government audits have found that the Bureau of Land Management has been curbing wild horse populations in areas where private livestock grazing is increasing. Cattle grazing on public land — easily a much bigger cause of rang land deterioration — outnumber wild horses by at least 200 to 1.

If overgrazing IS the problem with wild horses, as you say, then livestock grazing is NOT the answer Mr. Salazar.

***An article on the Western Watersheds creator.
I am of two minds on this and try to keep my head from exploding with it.
On the one hand, if ranchers go out of business because they can’t graze on Federal land, then their private holdings end up as subdivisions. On the other hand, why are we killing wolves so that cattle can graze on Federal land?
On the one hand, prairie is adapted to ruminants (bison) stampeding, and spreading seed. Why can’t ranchers to the same for the prairie with their cattle? On the other hand, they don’t.
On the one hand, environmentalists can be jackasses. On the other hand, sometimes they need to be to be listened to.
I like to see that Western Watersheds itself is buying up grazing leases. Private money put to good use. I think I’ll give.

**Survival of the cutest in the dog world.

**Wildlife Photograph of the Year stripped of it’s crown.

They seem to be “on the move” as they keep getting spotted in Oregon!

“One thing that is absolutely sure about wolves throughout the efforts to recover them is that they always surprise us,” said Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild, a conservation group.

“They don’t need a lot from humans other than habitat and not shooting them. Even with these sightings and the documented packs we’ve got in Eastern Oregon, we still have a very long way to go before wolves are recovered.”

A funny take