Who’s not willing to compromise on wolves?

Is compromising with the lawless in the best interest of wolves, wildlife, or the ESA?

By Ken Cole, Ralph Maughan, and Brian Ertz.

Ever since wolves were relisted as an Endangered Species by Judge Molloy of Montana there has been a persistent drone of editorial opinion, political grandstanding, and accusations made about and against wolf/Endangered Species Act (ESA) advocates.

Backlash.

Just recently, a piece was written that claimed wolf advocates “blew it” by fighting too long and too hard to protect the integrity of the ESA via fighting to keep protections for wolves. It went on to say that wolf advocates should have made an offer to settle rather than fight for the integrity of the ESA and now they are responsible for giving their opponents ammunition to threaten the integrity of the ESA.

The fact of the matter is that wolf advocate plaintiffs have been in settlement discussions with defendants, sadly enough, even after the court victory re-instating protections for wolves. It’s been wolf-opponents such as representatives of the state of Idaho that have declined to participate, refusing to even send anyone to these discussions. So who’s being too strident and why?

Furthermore, any settlement agreement must be reviewed by the public which means that it is an action that could be litigated by any number of groups for various reasons.

Some hunters like predators, dislike ATVs

How many hunters are like this?

Given the quality of the rabid anti-wolf folks, it might be easy to forget that many hunters (more than 50%?) take a balanced view of animals and hunting access.

I think there is too much demonization of hunters per se on this blog.  Folks should be careful to separate hunters into their various categories. Hunters are like everyone else in that their ethics, skill, and hunting interests come from how they were raised, where they were raised, how they learned to hunt, their age, their occupation and more.

Some hunters like predators, dislike ATVs. By Tom Wharton. The Salt Lake Tribune

Ralph Maughan