April 11, 2011
Wolf Settlement Denied; RMEF Renews Call to Congress
MISSOULA, Mont.—The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is praising a judge’s denial of a proposed settlement over wolf delisting. RMEF also is renewing a call for Congress to rescue science-based wildlife management from the frivolous lawsuits that have kept the issue mired in court proceedings and bureaucracy for many years.
“We’re pleased with Judge Molloy’s decision to deny this so-called settlement because it was just another stall tactic—a set-up for more legal challenges in the very near future,” said RMEF President and CEO David Allen.
He added, “Congress now has an opportunity to grant true management authority to states where gray wolf populations are biologically recovered. We urge lawmakers to respond now to a growing conservation problem.”
Allen says Molloy’s decision has left animal rights groups scrambling for a way to head off Congressional action to delist fully recovered wolf populations once and for all. He predicts that activists will try to sway lawmakers into protecting at least some federal involvement in state wolf management, leaving the door open for more legal antics in federal court.
He urges RMEF members and other conservationists to contact their elected federal representatives and ask them to support a remedy that allows states to manage biologically recovered populations of wildlife.