Salazar removes protection for gray wolves

Funny the things you don’t see in the national news.

There was a big hurrah about Pres. Obama putting a hold on George Bush’s last minute “midnight regulations,” which included a ruling that would remove gray wolves from the endangered species list.

What I’ve heard recently via the National Resources Defense Council is that new Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, has given the go-ahead on the ruling; wolves will be losing their protected status. Salazar, you’ll recall, is the dude who did not remove his cowboy hat during his (indoor) introduction by the president-elect. I guess that and his pointy-toed boots put him squarely on the side of wolf-hatin’ gun-totin’ ranchers. So much for objectivity. I’d really hoped for better from a Democrat and fellow Coloradan. Normally folks here are so green they don’t have to dress for St. Paddy’s Day.

The NRDC letter is a fundraiser and takes the alarmist tone you’d expect. That’s their picture above. They keep e-mailing me because I’ve signed a couple of their petitions, but I don’t belong to the group and have never sent them any money. Still, I heard it from them first.

Salazar made the announcement on a Friday, the day the administration usually releases news it hopes will get lost in the weekend shuffle. His ruling removes protected status from all but the Wyoming wolves.

Let’s hope those Idaho and Montana wolves know where the state line is.

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More about wolves on Pied Type:

• 11.1.09 Yellowstone’s Cottonwood pack is gone
• 4.14.09 Something to howl about
• 4.5.09 Attention, wolf lovers
• 2.25.09 Yellowstone wolf tracked to Colorado
• 1.23.09 Wolves still howling out west
• 12.5.08 I feel so much safer now
• 11.11.08 Bush going after wolves … again
• 9.19.08 Reintroduced gray wolves keep protected status
• 7.21.08 Judge ensures a safer autumn for gray wolves