Email from the NDRC (who are utterly cool folks):
Let me bring you up to speed. Last
March, the Bush Administration declared the Northern Rockies'
wolf population "fully recovered," then it handed off
responsibility for the wolves to Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Just as we predicted, a bloodbath ensued, with 110 wolves
slaughtered by state agents and hunters in as many days.
NRDC, Earthjustice and 11 other conservation groups
raced to court and won an injunction that put a temporary halt
to the killing until the full case could be heard. We fully
expected to fight a drawn-out courtroom battle in order to win a
permanent victory.
But thanks to the Bush
Administration's surrender, that battle will NOT
happen. Instead, the wolves of Yellowstone and the
surrounding region will remain protected by federal law.
That means Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will
NOT be allowed to begin the extermination of
hundreds of wolves this fall as part of a massive public hunt —
the first in more than three decades. Instead, those wolves will
continue to roam the Rockies — wild and free — as nature and
the law intended!
Why did U.S. Fish and Wildlife
officials throw in the towel? They had to face up to the fact
that their case against wolf protection would never hold up in
court. Above all, they ignored the best available science
showing that wolf populations had not fully recovered.
In the end, the Administration had little choice but to
put its tail between its legs and beat a hasty retreat.
Make no mistake: the fight doesn't end here. You can be
sure the federal government will be back soon enough with a new
plan. And the states will learn their lessons and return with
yet another scheme for killing wolves.
See also http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080917.asp
So what is it with Republican administrations and wolves?
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