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House votes to remove protections for gray wolves
The Hill ^ | November 16, 2018 | Timothy Cama

Posted on 11/16/2018 12:27:23 PM PST by jazusamo

The House passed a bill Friday that would remove federal protections for the gray wolf, allowing ranchers, hunters and others to kill the animals.

The Manage Our Wolves Act passed 196-180, mainly with Republican support. It would direct the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to end Endangered Species Act protections for the species and prohibit lawsuits challenging the removal.

The GOP and many western states have long argued that four decades of federal protections have been too successful in bringing the wolf back from the brink of extinction, and the species now poses a significant threat to livestock, pets and humans.

The Obama administration had determined that the gray wolf no longer needs protections, and removed them. But a federal court in 2014 overturned that decision, saying that the FWS didn’t show that the species was sufficiently recovered.

Under the GOP’s bill, landowners, hunters and others would be allowed to kill gray wolves, unless the states decide to implement their own protections.

“This underscores the extent to which the Fish and Wildlife Service has been hamstrung in implementing the objectives of the Endangered Species Act,” Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee’s oversight panel, said on the House floor Friday before the vote.

“Rather than spend its limited resources protecting vulnerable species, litigation activists have forced the agency to continuously defend every action,” he said. “In this case, despite scientific evidence collected by multiple administrations on both sides of the aisle showing that the gray wolf populations have recovered and thrived, the agency remains bogged down in costly, neverending litigation.”

Many Republicans speaking in favor of the bill framed the gray wolf as a violent predator and told stories from their districts of the animals killing livestock or pets or wreaking havoc in other ways.

“If you live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., it’s not a problem. If you live in Madison, Wis., it’s not really a problem,” said Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Ill.), the bill’s lead sponsor. “And you can make the argument that the pretty little puppy of the wolf, it’s so pretty and beautiful, and we have to protect it.”

Duffy said removing protections would be “good for the environment. It’s good for the wolves, it’s good for the cattle, it’s actually really good for our deer population.”

Democrats accused the GOP of overstating the problems with wolves. They said the species, which once roamed nearly the entire contiguous United States before humans decimated the population, is critical to maintaining health ecosystems.

“They still inhabit just a fraction of their historic range, and continued protection under the Endangered Species Act is necessary,” said Rep. Don Beyer (Va.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources oversight subpanel, and its likely chairman come January, since Democrats attained the House majority in last week’s elections.

“It’s important that we continue to protect the fewer than 6,000 that we have in the lower 48,” he said.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said his district has a wolf breeding program, and it hasn’t caused the problems the Republicans warned about.

“We are not having catastrophic predation on cattle in southern Oregon, and we could accommodate more wolves,” he said.

“A lot of this is based on some sort of gut-level historic fear or hatred of predators that has been passed down from generation to generation. We can have a healthy wolf population and you can still do good husbandry for cattle.”


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Montana; US: Oregon; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: esa; fws; graywolf; incometaxes; managewolvesact; taxcutsandjobsact; taxreform; tcja; wolfprotections; wolves
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Enviros and animal rights nuts will go ballistic if this is signed into law.
1 posted on 11/16/2018 12:27:23 PM PST by jazusamo
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To: george76

Wolf Ping!


2 posted on 11/16/2018 12:27:53 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: jazusamo

In before the crazies take over.


3 posted on 11/16/2018 12:28:47 PM PST by Slyfox (Not my circus, not my monkeys)
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To: jazusamo

None of the FedGov’s business. Let the states deal with it.

...which is apparently what this does.


4 posted on 11/16/2018 12:30:46 PM PST by cuban leaf
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To: jazusamo

They better shoot em quickly


5 posted on 11/16/2018 12:30:47 PM PST by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
How about a vote to make the tax cuts permanent, a-holes? That would be a lock, and this gray wolves BS will be rolled back in 2019.

6 posted on 11/16/2018 12:31:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: Flycatcher

Ping


7 posted on 11/16/2018 12:31:43 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: cuban leaf

Exactly, it would be up to the states.


8 posted on 11/16/2018 12:33:26 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: jazusamo

They’re killers....and everyone knows it. Just ask the ranchers. People that treat them like babies are whacko.


9 posted on 11/16/2018 12:33:48 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: jazusamo

Wolves kill Bambi so which one do they stick up for?


10 posted on 11/16/2018 12:34:33 PM PST by shelterguy
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To: jazusamo

Gay wolves?


11 posted on 11/16/2018 12:39:32 PM PST by Fido969 (In!)
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To: jazusamo
. . . allowing ranchers, hunters and others to kill the animals.

They need killin'.

12 posted on 11/16/2018 12:43:01 PM PST by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys all aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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MAGA!

Support Free Republic, Folks!

Please bump the Freepathon or click above to donate or become a monthly donor!

13 posted on 11/16/2018 12:45:09 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: jazusamo

Wolves were there first. Then in other states they reintroduced wolves to the area and resulted in sheep and calves being killed.


14 posted on 11/16/2018 12:47:49 PM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: SunkenCiv
Exactly, why can’t we concentrate on important matters which affect us all & we can be pass before the mob takes over the House? Why don’t they make tax cuts permanent when they first pass them?

I don’t see a big wolf problem unless you’re in a straw house and are a pig...

16 posted on 11/16/2018 12:52:45 PM PST by Smittie (Just like an alien I'm a stranger in a strange land)
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To: jazusamo
Wolf Tags in Idaho. Resident tag is $18.50, non-resident $31.75. You have to have a valid hunting license first, of course. I believe Montana and Wyoming have similar arrangements.

Not an animal I'd care to hunt, really, you can't eat them. If you're a rancher and you have to shoot one, though, a tag is preferable to having to talk the feds into the fact that you had to shoot.

17 posted on 11/16/2018 12:53:25 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: jazusamo
Under the GOP’s bill, landowners, hunters and others would be allowed to kill gray wolves, unless the states decide to implement their own protections.

Where it should have been all along!

18 posted on 11/16/2018 12:54:13 PM PST by ealgeone (SCRIPTURE DOES NOT CHANGE!)
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To: ealgeone

Bump!


19 posted on 11/16/2018 1:02:25 PM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: jazusamo

“Shoot, shovel, and shut up.”


20 posted on 11/16/2018 1:02:27 PM PST by Rushmore Rocks
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