Below, I’ve copied the text from the latest Sierra Club newsletter. This updates us on their work to lobby against the Wisconsin wolf hunts. You can sign up for their email list here.
In my last post, I wrote about how we should be valuing wolves (and other animals) as components of ecosystem stability. I used an average for species recovery that estimated three years to recover 218 wolves. In some good news, scientists with the Sierra Club have suggested this could be as quick as 1-2 years. Of course, that’s assuming the hunt doesn’t continue. Oh, and the figure for the whole year was actually 323 wolves, assuming that’s accurate.
The other problem is how kills are distributed. Given the appalling nature of the hunts, I’d be surprised if some hunters aren’t wholesale slaughtering entire packs. The problem with that, is it immediately ends a whole lineage. It effectively makes the pack culturally and genealogically extinct.
Reintroducing wild animals isn’t as simple as assuming they will just fit in. It takes time for them to rediscover their locale … rather like if you move house. Or, if your family is forcibly removed and twenty years later. After your neighbourhood has been occupied by new people and businesses, you’re asked to move back in. Things will have changed.
This cultural consideration is of over-riding importance, as I describe here https://simonmustoe.blog/why-are-gray-wolves-important-and-thriving-in-minnesota/. It’s this part that connects the animals to patterns of resource use and ecosystem processes. It’s the part that connects wildlife to ecosystemHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More services like fresh water, soil and climate. In other words, simple population viability or recovery data, doesn’t take the livelihoods of animals into consideration.
Rebuilding a cultural legacy can take hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, to rebuild.
So, one wolf from a pack of 8 can recover easily enough, through breeding the following year. If all 8 are lost though (or the pack structure is effectively destroyed and becomes unviable), that’s another matter altogether. It’s similar to the problem we face having removed indigenous cultures from the country. We then wonder how we regain our knowledge of appropriate land use.
Regards,
Simon.
Up to 1/3 of Wisconsin Wolves are gone
Sierra Club Newsletter, August 6th 2021
Dear Supporter,
216 wolves. Dead in just 60 hours. Those were the devastating results of the Wisconsin trophy hunt that one anonymous department of natural resources employee called an “abomination.” We can’t let it happen again.
Because the Trump administration removed the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List in 2020, hunters in Wisconsin are now allowed to hunt these beautiful animals.
We are fighting on so many fronts to end the climate and extinction crises, and this is heartbreaking—but we aren’t giving up. Putting the might of the Sierra Club community behind us to win these fights is what we do. We are working to ensure wolves stay on the road to recovery, pressing President Biden to keep his promise to reconsider the Trump administration’s order removing federal protections for wolves in the Lower 48 and challenging this unlawful move in federal court, while also urging Congress to fully fund the Endangered Species Act.
Now, here’s what you can do: will you help us with a gift now, while a group of generous donors has pledged a MATCH for the first 3 months for every new monthly donor—up to $400,000? Please, support our work to protect the wolf population from shrinking further—as well as confronting the growing extinction crisis—with your monthly membership to the Sierra Club now. You’ll unlock our 3 month MATCH + FREE SOS Emergency Kit for you >>
As revealed in a shocking video by the environmental group Wolf Patrol, Wisconsin hunters used hounds and snowmobiles to track and kill wolves in the state-sanctioned hunt that killed 82% more than the quota of 119 wolves set by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and wiped out one-third of the Badger state’s entire wolf population.
Experts estimate that as many as 323 wolves were killed between April 2020 and April 2021. Researchers believe many of the additional wolf deaths are a result of “cryptic poaching”, a violation of Tribal treaty rights, and an additional affront to the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, who have been leaders in opposing gray wolf delisting.
Now, some good news: researchers also believe the wolf population can rebuild in one or two years. But these extreme hunts have to stop, and management of wolf populations must be based on science. Please, help us restore federal protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48 by becoming a Wilderness Guardian today—and you’ll power up your gift with a 3 month MATCH + claim your FREE gift >>
Supporter, there are many reasons to protect Wisconsin’s wolves. Wolves protect forests by managing deer overpopulation. By limiting both deer and mice populations, wolves also protect our public health from diseases like Lyme disease—not to mention from auto collisions with deer, which kill 200 people every year.
But I’m not going to sugarcoat things—time is not on our side. Other states like Montana and Idaho are planning hunts that allow inhumane tactics like bait, snares, and night hunting of wolves in their plans. And the Badger State is scheduling another wolf hunt in November if ESA protections are not reinstated.
Wolves need you—and so do we. Please, MATCH the first 3 months of your monthly gift to help us fight to restore and fully fund the Endangered Species Act + get your FREE SOS Emergency Kit >>
Ever vigilant,
Michael Brune
Executive Director
Sierra Club
P.S. Widespread hunting has the potential to reverse 40 years of progress in wolf recovery. We can’t let that happen—let’s put the full might of our Sierra Club community behind the Endangered Species Act and the precious wildlife it was created to protect. Rush your 3 month MATCHED monthly gift today and help save our wolves + claim your FREE gift for a limited time only!
