Sign the petition: Protect gray wolves from becoming hunting trophies

Friend, In the coming weeks, gray wolves around the Great Lakes could lose critical Endangered Species Act protections. Both the House and Senate are poised to vote on devastating bills that would open the door to wolves being hunted, trapped, and subjected to state-sponsored population control.1 Imagine having to explain to future generations that wolfpacks no longer roam the Rockies and the woods of the upper Midwest, and that we'll never hear a wolf howl in the wild again. Wolves were nearly eradicated in the United States in the 1900s -- our country shouldn't open the door to that happening again. Because you and I both know – once wolves are gone, there's no bringing them back. [Tell Congress: No animal should be hunted to extinction.]( [ADD YOUR NAME]( These bills have already moved through committees and on to the full House and Senate, making this the closest that Great Lakes gray wolves have come to losing their protections in years. If they become law, these bills would open the door to hunting, trapping and state-led efforts to reduce wolf populations. This has happened before around the Great Lakes -- in just three years from 2012 to 2014, 1500 wolves were killed.2 With only 5500 wolves surviving in the entire lower 48 states today, a repeat of that would be catastrophic. In 2014, federal courts intervened to save the wolves that were left -- but these new bills in Congress would prohibit courts from ruling on this issue again, or reinstating the protections that were lost earlier this year in Wyoming. That's an unprecedented attack on the Endangered Species Act. [Tell your legislators: Wolves are treasures, not hunting trophies.]( [ADD YOUR NAME]( Where states already have free rein, it's been a disaster for wolves – Alaska's Board of Game has pushed for gassing wolf pups in their dens and killing up to 70% of some wolf populations.3 Wyoming allows unlimited wolf killing in large parts of the state, and trophy hunting in most of the rest.4 Gray wolves can't afford to lose Endangered Species Act protections in the handful of states where they still have them. Even in Oregon, where Governor Kate Brown is otherwise great on the environment, several wolves have already been killed by the state this year, and some ranchers have called for an entire pack to be wiped out. Earlier this month, the state ordered that four more be killed.5 Wolves aren't just iconic -- they're also a keystone species that's critical to maintaining the natural balance of healthy ecosystems. That balance has been badly degraded across centuries of hunting, trapping, and habitat loss. And this isn't just about saving wolves -- these bills are just one piece of an unprecedented attack on the Endangered Species Act, one of our most important conservation laws. It's been 99% effective since being enacted in 1973, saving over a thousand species from imminent extinction -- the last thing we need is for Congress to start meddling with it. [Act Now: Tell Congress to save the wolves.]( [ADD YOUR NAME]( The Environmental Action team 1 Davis, Mark, "[Bill to block challenges to wolf delisting advances](," Powell Tribune, October 19, 2017. 2 McKinney, Matt, "[Court: Great Lakes wolf hunt must stop](," StarTribune, December 19, 2014. 3 "[Wolf Management Policy](," Alaska Board of Game, Accessed February 27, 2017. 4 Koshmrl, Mike, "[Jackson wolf hunt zone closes](," Jackson Hole News & Guide, October 17, 2017. 5 Stephen Tool, "[More Harl Butte wolves to be harvested](," Wallowa County Chieftain, October 10, 2017. Paid for by Environmental Action. Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.