| Wednesday, January 31, 2007 |
09:05 - Protest first, ask questions later
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An art site I run features an announcement board where members (mostly teenage girls) can post bulletins about their lives, their art, or whatever. Imagine my amusement to see this one this morning:
Save the wolves!!!
Bush proposes a lift on the protection of wolves in Idaho and Wyoming. A recent bill allowed unlimited killings in some states. Take action!!
http://action.defenders.org/rockymountainoutrage2
I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise to anybody that if you follow the link, you find that Bush doesn't have a thing to do with this—it's a decision by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and the Fish and Wildlife Service. But hey, Bush is a magic word for riling people up; works like a charm. Everyone knows he just sits around in his office rubbing his stupid hands together and dreaming up new ways to kill cute and peaceful things.
A little research would seem to be the enemy of effective outrage:
Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne today signed a Memorandum of Agreement transferring most of the responsibility for managing gray wolves in central Idaho from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to state wildlife officials.
The agreement covers the management of the experimental, non-essential population of gray wolves south of Interstate 90, an area that encompasses most of the state. Wolves north of Interstate 90 are protected under the Endangered Species Act as an endangered species. The Service is completing the application process for a permit to allow the state to manage wolves in the Idaho Panhandle north of Interstate 90.
Populations of wolves in Idaho have flourished since the Service introduced them in the state in 1995. In 2004, there were at least 422 wolves in Idaho, including 27 breeding pairs, nearly three times the recovery goal.
Idaho will manage the species in accordance with a conservation and management plan developed by the state and approved by the Service in anticipation of removal of wolves in the northern Rockies from the list of threatened and endangered species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
“Wolves have thrived in Idaho far above expectations,” Secretary Norton said. “We’ve reached the point biologically where management should be turned over to the state, which is in the best interest of both the wolves and the citizens of Idaho who live near them.”
Now, to be sure, there's still some cause to be concerned:
Stone says Defenders is concerned that Idaho would be more agressive in killing wolves in the state, and the Wyoming plan has not even been accepted.
"Defenders of Wildlife supports enlisting the help of the states with wolf management where appropriate, but the federal government is poised to hand virtually all responsibility to a state that has essentially vowed to destroy the wolf. It is a recipe for disaster," said Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen in January when Idaho assumed management of its wolf population.
"Idaho's wolf management plan to shoot first and ask questions later could jeopardize the future of the wolf in the region. We believe this action is blatantly illegal and are exploring options for stopping it in court," Schlickeisen said.
... But I just find it hilarious how as simplified as the protest site's argument is, that wasn't simplified enough for the people trying to drum up support for it. Gotta throw in the magic four-letter word that makes people's brains turn off. Quick! Take action! Click through and send in the pre-wrapped letter of someone else's outrage! And whatever you do, for God's sake, don't stop to consider both sides of the issue!
UPDATE: The protest site claims that Dirk Kempthorne is the U.S. Interior Secretary, but the "research" I linked to said he's the Governor of Idaho. They're both right; he went straight from the governorship to the SecInt position by appointment. Which leads to interesting questions of whether this wolf-control deal was interrelated with the appointment... but hey, that's crazy talk. (Since, after all, the deal took place before Kempthorne moved to Washington, not after.) And I still don't know enough about this to really be entitled to an opinion. But I'll wager I know more than most of the people sending in their protest form letters.
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Brian Tiemann
