US Congressman Cliff Bentz led 19 of his Republican colleagues this week in sending a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service urging its director to delist the gray wolf as a protected species under the Endangered Species Act.
The letter to USFWS Director Martha Williams follows the agency's decision last month to not re-list the wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains because it found the wolf was not in danger of extinction anywhere in the western United States.
Despite this finding, the Service has done nothing to allow those bearing the burden of an apex predator's reintroduction to protect themselves, livestock or even deer and elk populations from devastation by the wolf.
Congressman Bentz said the Service should move immediately to de-list the gray wolf as a protected species, which would allow the use of accepted methods of predator control to be used by ranchers and state agencies including the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Bentz said the substantial growth in population of gray wolves throughout Oregon and the western United States poses significant challenges for ranchers, farmers and outdoorsmen alike.
The Ontario Republican said it's imperative that the US Fish and Wildlife Service promptly act to de-list the gray wolf so that those in the West who are burdened by the reintroduction of an admittedly recovered predator species can protect themselves.
