Animal welfare organisations are trying to prevent the killing of thousands of wolves this summer in the United States. The Animal Reader talked to Nick Arrivo, managing attorney for wildlife at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
In April, the states of Idaho and Montana passed new laws that will increase the number of wolves that can be killed.
These new laws will push the wolf population back to extinction, Arrivo said. Authors of the bill want to kill up to 90% of the wolves in Idaho and Montana.
Arrivo explained that the ways in which wolves will be killed are barbaric and extremely cruel: strangling neck snares, using packs of dogs to chase them and using snowmobiles and other vehicles.
Idaho and Montana say that wolves are responsible for killing farm animals, but Arrivo noted that they are unfairly blamed for that; wolves are only responsible for 1% of farm animals’ deaths. Humans are the number one killers of farm animals.
HSUS and other wildlife conservation groups are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore Endangered Species Act protections to wolves immediately.
The “blood bath” will start this summer if the federal government does not step in, Arrivo said.
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