[Most of this News is From Wally Sykes, Northeast Oregon Ecosystems, wally_sykes2000@yahoo.com]
- Billboard Keeps the Heat on Wolf Poacher
- Congressional Bills Concerning Endangered Wolves
- Letters to the Editor in Oregonian & OP-EDS--RE: Ferrioli & Wolves
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Billboard Keeps the Heat on Wolf Poacher
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2011
Contact:
Wally Sykes, Northeast Oregon Ecosystems, wally_sykes2000@yahoo.com
(Phone number available upon request)
Suzanne Stone, Defenders of Wildlife, 208.424.9385, sstone@defenders.org
Greg Dyson, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, 541.963.3950 x22, greg@hellscanyon.org
Rob Klavins, Oregon Wild, 503.283.6343 ext 210, rk@oregonwild.org
Billboard Keeps the Heat on Wolf Poacher
Groups advertise $10,000 reward in hopes of catching wolf killer
La Grande, Ore—Local citizens and conservation groups today announced a new effort to bring the poacher who illegally shot an endangered wolf in Oregon to justice. Starting tomorrow, drivers traveling East on Hwy. 82 from La Grande will see a billboard with the image of the young wolf killed in September and the phone number to call with information about its death. The advertisement highlights a $10,000 reward being offered or information about the poaching and the statement “whatever you think of wolves…poaching is wrong!”
Wally Sykes of Joseph, Oregon is a founder of the community group Northeast Oregon Ecosystems which spearheaded the effort to raise funds from neighbors, friends, community members, and wildlife advocates in Wallowa County upset by the illegal killing. The group has also funded predator management presentations for ranchers and the range rider program implemented by Defenders of Wildlife in partnership with local ranchers.
“Tourism is vital to this area.” said Sykes. “People come to see spectacular wild landscapes and wildlife. Just like in Yellowstone, the return of wolves to Oregon has the potential to draw visitors from all over the country. Anti-wildlife attitudes and rhetoric that result in the illegal killing of endangered species are counterproductive and give our community a black eye.”
The wolf killed in September was collared by biologists in early August in an effort to track the Wenaha pack – one of only two known packs in Oregon. In a monthly wolf update, ODFW claimed the collaring effort began in 2007 and represented the agency’s single largest wolf collaring effort. Photos of the silver male were circulated widely. The wolf was found dead on September 30th by wildlife agents and represents the third illegal wolf killing since the species first returned to Oregon after being exterminated over 60 years ago. Oregon’s confirmed wolf population now stands at 24 wolves in 2 packs.
In response, local citizens, conservation groups, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have offered a combined reward of $10,000. High profile wolf poachings have also recently occurred in Washington.
“There is room in the West for both wildlife and people. Old attitudes of intolerance and fear don’t get us anywhere,” said Sykes. “Wolves were shot on sight until they were all gone. Living with wolves is going to require some adjustments, but it’s the right thing to do in a state that prides itself on its conservation values.”
A press release about the reward can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ORwolfreward. Anyone with information about this wolf poaching should contact Special Agent Cindi Bockstadter at 503.682.6131
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Congressional Bill Concerning Endangered Wolves
SENATE BILLS
S 249 – The Orrin Hatch Bill would remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act forever nationwide.
S 321 - The Baucus/Tester (D, Mont.) bill would make the 2009 delisting rule law in Idaho and Montana, but would additionally allow Idaho to reduce their wolf population to 100 animals as directed by the Idaho legislature. Montana's plan calls for at least 342 wolves. It makes no mention of state management plans conforming to any prior delisting agreement between the states and the USFWS, which was part of the 2009 delisting agreement since overturned by Judge Malloy.
HOUSE BILLS
HR 509 – One of two Rehberg (R, Mont.) bills, it would delist all wolves nationwide and prevent them from ever receiving protection under the Endangered Species Act.
HR 510 – The second Rehberg (R, Mont.) bill would delist wolves only in Montana and Idaho but would not require the states to follow their own management plans, leaving the door open for wolf eradication if directed by the legislatures of each state.
Note: Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson said he will add a provision to the continuing budget resolution necessary for the government to continue that would reinstate the 2009 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the gray wolf in Idaho and Montana. This would also include recovering wolf populations in eastern Oregon and Washington.
Text of the Provision: SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this division, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such re-issuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review.
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Letters to the Editor in Oregonian RE: Ferrioli & Wolves
Howling over wolves
Regarding "Wolf input from EU gets Oregon hackles up" (Feb. 10): State Sen. Ted Ferrioli is a throwback to frontier days, when the land existed solely for exploitation by resource extractors, and hang anyone who stood in their way. If the people he represents cheer his swagger and applaud his bare-knuckle arrogance, clearly it is Grant County, not Greece, that has become a "haven for morons."
He will no doubt bristle at this suggestion and redirect his vitriol to "outsiders" from western Oregon. But before he defends his knee-jerk reaction to world opinion, perhaps he would be wise to learn about the remarkable ecological recovery wolf reintroduction has brought to the rivers and valleys of Yellowstone National Park.
Perhaps then he would tone down his rhetoric. Perhaps he would work for the balanced approach we need if we hope to avoid joining the long list of endangered species we are driving to extinction.
DAVID HEDGES
West Linn
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The incivility and immaturity shown by state Sen. Ted Ferrioli in response to the letter from the out-of-state (and out-of-country) wolf advocate boggles my mind. It was the adult equivalent of a 6-year-old folding his arms, stamping his foot and saying, "You're not the boss of me!" I certainly hope the only way this person represents the denizens of John Day is by his presence in the Legislature.
KAREN MAYFIELD
Southeast Portland
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Editorial: What e-mail needs: a delay
Add Ted Ferrioli, the state Senate minority leader, to the victims of impulsive e-mailing. That’s the ailment that causes people to answer an annoying e-mail with a snarky remark and hit the send button before they’ve cooled down. [Hey Ted, I do that too!]
There’s a bill pending in the legislature removing wolves from the state’s endangered species list. Somebody from Europe, a singer living in Greece, e-mailed Ferrioli urging him to oppose the bill.
Ferrioli could have ignored the message. He could have thanked the singer for her concern even though she’s as far removed from the facts as she is from the location of the issue.
Instead, he snapped that input from residents of the European Union made no difference to him on this or presumably any other issue. And by way of illustration or example, he added that maybe he should write to the EU and recommend that it no longer subsidize Greece since it had become a “haven for morons.”
[See link above for more. ...]
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Scotta Callister
Editor, Blue Mountain Eagle |
A heated e-mail from Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) to a wolf advocate in Greece last week sparked howls of protest and eventually elicited an apology from the senator to people of Greek descent, wherever they reside.
It also made it pretty clear that this county should never appoint Ferrioli to be its Minister of Tourism.
The uproar began after the senator got an e-mail from a woman in Greece, urging him to oppose an Oregon Senate bill that would remove wolves from the state’s endangered species list. Ferrioli shot back that he supports the bill, but added that “perhaps I should be writing to EU ministers to stop bailing out Greece. Clearly, it has become a haven for morons. Go away!”
. . . .
The senator may have shot himself in the foot, but we’re catching the ricochet. Maybe he should apologize not just to Greeks, but to this community. And perhaps next time, rather than telling foreign correspondents to “go away,” he should be inviting them to visit Grant County and see rural life for themselves. Our county leaders and Extension agents took that approach few years with their urban-rural exchange, an award-winning program that arose out of verbal clashes over – what else? – wolves.
. . . . [See link above for more. ...]
See also Fallout for Ferrioli: from the hometown paper
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Oregon GOP leader cries wolf over emails from abroad
When singer and Greek resident Louise du Toit wrote to Oregon Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) urging him to oppose a GOP-sponsored bill that would weaken environmental protections in the state, she probably didn’t expect her voice to carry much weight overseas.
But she certainly didn’t expect the sheer boorishness of Sen. Ferrioli’s answer:
"Are you kidding? Why do you expect that input from [European Union] residents make any difference at all to me? I'll be supporting Dr. Whitsett's bill (he is a VETERINARIAN). By the way, perhaps I should be writing to EU ministers to stop bailing out Greece. Clearly it has become a haven for morons.
"Go Away!"
[See link above for more. ...]
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From Defender's of Wildlife:
Sneak attack on wolves.
There’s not a lot of love for wolves or wildlife on Capitol Hill today. In fact, some in Congress are trying to use a must-pass spending bill to eliminate lifesaving protections for gray wolves across the U.S., opening the door to widespread trapping and poisoning of wolves in the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone.
Worse, they are proposing deep funding cuts that could be disastrous for wildlife protection in the U.S. Don’t let them get away with it. Urge your U.S. representative to oppose attempts to attach anti-wolf, anti-wildlife legislation to a bill intended to keep the government running.
The spending bill, called a continuing resolution, is designed to ensure that military and government workers continued to get paid, that social security recipients receive their checks and that the government continues to function.
Unfortunately, some in Congress are using this legislation as a vehicle to attack protections for wolves and enact some of the deepest cuts in recent memory for the agencies that protect our wildlife and environment – a move that would have dire consequences across the country for your wildlife and for the quality of your environment .
Some of the crucial programs that will be slashed include those that protect imperiled species, acquire key habitat around the country, including for our national wildlife, refuges, parks, forests and other public lands, help state protect wildlife before they decline to the point where they are endangered, and assist wildlife in surviving climate change.
It’s a sneaky, backdoor assault on protections for wildlife, and I need your help to stop it.
It’s up to caring wildlife supporters like you to stop this assault on the precious natural treasures we all love. Please take action now. The U.S. House of Representatives will consider the continuing resolution this week, and we need to make a strong showing against this assault on our wolves, wildlife and environment. Help us send 65,000 messages to Capitol Hill by Wednesday. Please take action, forward this email and share our message on Facebook. We can protect our wolves, wildlife and environment, but only if we work together. Will you take just a few moments to help today? For the Wild Ones,
Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife
© Copyright 2011, Defenders of Wildlife
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