Wildlife for All and partners renewed our call for Wyoming and other states to overhaul their wildlife management policies in the wake of an incident of a wolf having been captured and tortured in Wyoming.
A bill in Vermont would democratize wildlife policy making by adding nonhunters to the state wildlife board. This NY Times article links it to similar efforts to shake up wildlife management in other states.
A ballot initiative in Colorado would ban the hunting of cougars. Opponents say it would eliminate an essential management tool. This hunter doesn’t buy it.
Although it is found in many state statutes, the term “wildlife conservation” is seldom defined, leading to widespread confusion about the purpose of state wildlife management. One state wildlife commission decided to do something about it. The result was surprisingly controversial.
Read more here.
A former New Jersey state senator filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that effectively gives hunting groups the power to select a majority of the 11-member NJ Fish and Wildlife Council, which sets wildlife policy for the state. The legal challenge was filed in response to the state’s decision to allow a bear hunt in each of the next five years. The judge denied a preliminary injunction to halt the hunt which began this month.
Read more here.
In response to the state of Alaska killing more than 100 bears and wolves by helicopter in June, supposedly to increase caribou numbers, a coalition of 35 wildlife and Indigenous groups, including Wildlife for All, sent a letter to Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland in August, renewing their demand that federal funds be withheld from states that practice or sanction the killing of native carnivores like wolves.
Read more here.
“Facing escalating threats from climate change, habitat destruction and species extinction, Colorado’s rich natural heritage hangs in the balance — but the recent appointment of three new CPW commissioners offers hope for safeguarding wildlife and the outdoors for all,” says one Colorado hunter.
Read more at the Colorado Politics website
Current wolf conservation policies epitomize the bias of state and federal agencies to allow unjustified and unscientific lethal control through undemocratic processes that ignore diverse public values. As a result, wolves are used as a political bargaining tool by Republicans and Democrats alike. The latest move to delist wolves by US Senators Baldwin and Klobuchar is no exception.
Read this statement by Wildlife for All and our partners to learn more.
“Most state wildlife agencies have followed the North American model for wildlife for a century or more,” said state Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, a Democrat who championed the measure. “It’s worth looking — is there a better model?” This Stateline article by Alex Brown looks at steps Washington State is taking to democratize and modernize its wildlife management, along the lines Wildlife for All’s reform agenda.
Read more at the Stateline website
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham pocket vetoed a bipartisan bill passed by the NM Legislature that would have made the NM Game Commission more professional and representative of the broad public interest in wildlife. The bill was backed by Wildlife for All and a broad coalition of NM groups, ranging from hunters to animal welfare advocates. The governor’s office has not offered an explanation for her veto.
Read more at the Santa Fe New Mexican website