Submitted Electronically via eRulemaking Portal

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has launched an attack on the endangered gray wolf that threatens to decimate its slowly recovering populations. FWS has published a proposal to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered species, and I strongly believe that this is a terribly misguided approach. Thousands of these majestic animals once roamed across the United States, but exploitative bounty programs, poisons, trapping and aerial shooting nearly eliminated the gray wolf from the lower 48 states over the past century. Gray wolves were placed on the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1973, but their recovery is far from over and their survival is still precarious. The gray wolf has already been delisted in the Great Lakes Region, and concerned citizens and groups are part of a major lawsuit to restore protection. If delisted, states could open trophy hunting seasons that encourage the most inhumane methods of hunting, including steel-jawed traps, baiting, and attacking wolves with packs of dogs. Again, I strongly urge that the FWS reverse this trend of following the wishes of a small group of ranchers and hunters, and allow the protections granted by the ESA to continue to build back the wolf populations that centuries of ignorant, murderous individuals tried to wipe off of the face of this earth.