June 02, 2011 "In The Crosshairs"
June 02, 2011
On Wednesday, June 1st, Judge Donald Molloy of
the Montana federal district court, denied Safari Club International
and the National Rifle Association of America’s motion to intervene
to defend the constitutionality of the recently passed wolf
delisting rider. This rider to the 2011 budget bill directed
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist Montana and Idaho’s
wolves. Judge Molloy denied all the motions to intervene in
the case that had been filed by sportsmen’s groups, other nonprofits
and the State of Idaho. This decision has essentially silenced
the voice of hunters from being heard in this court. SCI’s
attorneys are now examining a variety of options that would enable
them to persist in their defense of the delisting law to ensure that
the interests of hunters are represented. Please read below to
see further SCI’s efforts to remove recovered wolves from the
endangered species list.
What SCI is Doing to Delist Wolves
Safari Club International has been the leading voice for
science-base management of gray wolves for the greater part of a
decade. SCI has joined multiple lawsuits to defend the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife's varied attempts to delist wolves including the most
recent case on May 20, 2011 and has spent innumerable hours lobbying
Congress to get recovered gray wolf populations delisted.
SCI and its colleague organizations successfully lobbied
Congress to begin to remove gray wolves from the endangered species
list. Congress inserted language into the 2011 continuing budget
resolution that effectively delisted many of the wolves of the
Northern Rocky Mountains. The Secretary of Interior complied with
this law and delisted wolf populations in Montana and Idaho as well
as portions of Utah, Oregon and Washington on May 6, 2011.
Since this law contained a provision that restricted
judicial review of the delisting, environmentalist anti-hunting
groups have further twisted the legal system by challenging the
Constitutionality of the law. SCI has taken the lead for the
hunting community by moving to intervene in this lawsuit to defend
the delisting of wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains.
The effort to continue delisting wolves from the Endangered
Species list it is not the end of the story. Wolf populations in
Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan remain under federal
Endangered Species Act protections, despite total recognition of
their recovered population.
·
SCI continues our fight to delist wolves
wherever they are recovered.
·
SCI Supports HR 838, Western Great Lakes Wolf
Management Act of 2011
·
SCI Supports HR 1819, the State Wildlife
Management Act of 2011
·
SCI will not rest until all recovered wolf
populations are delisted and managed by sound science under the
sustainable use strategies of the North American Model of Wildlife
Conservation.
Contribute today to the SCI Hunter Defense
Fund and protect YOUR rights and the freedom to hunt.