American Indian Tribes Ask Biden Administration to Enact Emergency Protections for Wolves

Wednesday, September 15th, 2021 -- 9:00 AM

(AP) Dozens of American Indian tribes asked the Biden administration Tuesday to immediately enact emergency protections for wolves, saying states have become too aggressive in hunting the animal.

Groups representing the tribes sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland asking her to act quickly on an emergency petition they filed in May to relist the wolf as endangered or threatened.

They also asked Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, to relist the wolf on an emergency basis for 240 days, ensuring immediate protection.

The groups say that states have enacted “anti-wolf” policies that present “a real potential of decimating wolf populations.” The letter doesn’t name any specific states or policies.

But Izzy Baird, a spokeswoman for the groups, noted in an email that Wisconsin hunters went over their kill quota by almost 100 animals during that state’s spring season; Montana allows hunters to kill up to 10 wolves each and payments for dead wolves reminiscent of bounties, and an Idaho law that passed in July allows hunters to kill up to 90% of that state’s wolves.

The letter notes that wolves play a key role in a host of American Indian tribes’ cultures and accuses the federal government of failing to listen to their concerns about removing the wolf from the endangered species list in January.

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