Environmental groups sue to stop federal killings of wolves in Oregon
Source: Reuters
Environmental groups sue to stop federal killings of wolves in Oregon
Reuters
By Courtney Sherwood
9 hours ago
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Environmentalists sued a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday in a bid to block federal agents from carrying out targeted killings of gray wolves in Oregon, as debates simmers over protections afforded the animals in the wild.
The lawsuit against the USDA's Wildlife Services agency came two months after a U.S. judge in neighboring Washington state ruled that the federal agency's environmental assessment of its work was inadequate, and blocked wolf kills in the state.
"The environmental analysis they put out for both Washington and Oregon were virtually identical, which is part of the reason we don't think they did a meaningful analysis in Oregon," said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands, one of five groups suing to block the wolf-culling program.
. . .
Gray wolves, native to Oregon but wiped out in the state by an eradication campaign in the early 20th century, returned in 2008 and have now spread out to multiple parts of Oregon.
Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/environmental-groups-sue-stop-federal-killings-wolves-oregon-002740233.html
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Almost never attack humans, and attacks are almost nil. If they do attack a human, it is bound to be a sick wolf, a starving wolf, or a wolf defending itself from humans. (Many ranchers over the years have talked about how they will shoot a wolf on sight and bury it, especially when they know that they are doing so illegally).
They are in far more danger of us than we are of them.
Wolves are not evil. People should stop living in 'fear' of wolves. From the time people are children, they have it pounded into them that wolves are bad. This fear is so ingrained into society that it makes me sick. Little Red Riding Hood, the three little pigs and the wolf blowing the houses down, sayings like 'a wolf in sheep's clothing', and on and on, all help to reinforce the notion that wolves are evil.
Wolves are good. 
For instance, Wolves will balance the local habitat, helping to return areas to their more natural state.
Here is a video about wolves returning to Yellowstone and how they have helped return the valleys to a more natural state:
'News' stories about people killing wolves just makes me depressed (and furious
).
I'm sorry if I'm rambling on, so I will stop with this last thought:
I can only hope that those who kill wolves will have to live with vivid nightmares of being chased and eaten by the Fenrir for the rest of their days. (That is of course on top of being convicted of any and all laws they may have broken at the time they committed the wolf murder.)
are when you are accompanied by a DOG, whom they are likely to see as an intruder of their territory - just like it was a coyote; or if someone has been feeding them previously and they are starving. They don't seem to like the taste of human flesh and they will kill your dog but not eat it or you.
I spent a couple decades educating people about this but the stupid never seems to end, especially in the US.
ETA: Wildlife services is, simply put, the wildlife death squad who has for years been given carte blanche to kill wolves on a rancher's say so with no necropsies or actual investigation into the actual cause of death or livestock. They have abused their alleged mission for decades and need to be completely dismantled. They cost taxpayers millions each year at both state and federal levels and with no oversight, they bully state legislatures to cut them a check and then they go out on all kinds of joy rides in expensive helicopters and go out an kill wildlife as though sport hunting with no bag limits. And they love what they do, at least the vast majority of them. This lawsuit is a long time coming and I hope it successfully accomplishes its purpose.
