Certainly, though cantankerous cattlemen aren’t helping, but the biggest threat to the reintroduction efforts seems to be the bumbling efforts of the Keystone cops masquerading as wildlife biologists working on the wolf project.  More than a decade ago, the reintroduction effort was launched with the release of 11 captivity-bred Mexican Gray wolves into the Gila National Forest of New Mexico in 1998. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Wish and Wildlife expected those sleek, elusive wolves to the beginning of a new, stable population of the endangered canids. They planned on at least 100 animals by 2006. Today, three years past that deadline, the population hovers below 50 animals, with scores dead at the hands of the very scientists sworn to protect them!

At least 25 Mexican Gray Wolves have died as a result of mishandling, mismanagement, or simple bad judgement on the part of the biologists running the program. The Los Angeles Times reports that more than two dozen  wolves died  through shooting, trapping, sedating, penning and relocating efforts. One wolf died of hypothermia after being chased to exhaustion by biologists in a helicopter seeking to capture it for routine ‘health checks’!  Another eight died from stress after being captured and locked in small holding pens – these are wild, skittish animals that don’t do well in capitivity, which any biologists on the team should know! Six wolf pups were killed by their adoptive family after biologists removed the pups from the wild and tried to place them in the care of a captive pack. Several adult wolves died of stress and overheating after being shot with tranquilizers, captured, weighed, measured, etc. all in the name of “sound science” — gathering health data to ‘better ensure the pack health.’

That’s right: The wolves are being accidentally killed by biologists trying to ensure their continued good health.  Sounds like the folks who dreamed up this plan got their training in the Guantanamo Bay school of common sense – they live by the credo: “The means justify the end!”

I’m all for sound science, but there comes a time when scientists do more harm than good with their continued meddling in wild processes. Let’s suspend all trapping, tracking, monitoring and measuring efforts for these few terrorized wolves still roaming the American Southwest. Even the folks in charge of the program are realizing enough is enough. “We’ve made some mistakes on our own,” said Benjamin Tuggle, the Southwest regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We’ve cost the lives of wolves. I don’t want you to think that I am comfortable with where we are in handling these wolves, because I’m not.”

Good. Now cut the crap and do what it takes to PROTECT the wolves rather than study them.

Those words, written by U.S. District Judge James Redden  in a letter issued May 18, 2009, were addressed to various factions fighting over the recover plans for the Pacific Salmon, listed as endangered under the ESA. Redden went on to suggest that if the states, tribes, federal agencies, private business, commercial and recreational fishermen, and other stakeholders can’t agree to recover plan soon, the courts may need to step in and take drastic action – including ordering the removal of dams from area rivers (especially four contentious fish-killed dams on the lower Snake River).

Redden’s letter focused on the specific policies (or lack thereof) within the  2008 Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion issued by the Bush Administration as a half-assed answer to the issue of the ESA listing of salmon. The Redden letter expounds on the problems with this multi-jurisdictional approach to problem solving. “Only recently have they begun to commit the kind of financial and political capital necessary to save these threatened and endangered species, some of which are on the brink of extinction. We simply cannot afford to waste another decade.”

One problem is there is little consensus of what should be done. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire praises the Bush policy. She told the EPA just this spring that the Bush policy would ensure the survival of 13 species of salmon while preserving dams and business opportunities. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, though, said just this week that that policy is weak, fraught with policy problems, and lacks a scientific foundation.

Redden praised the ongoing efforts to cooperate and find collaborative solutions to a very difficult problem. But he also noted that in the end, if progress isn’t made – and soon – his court may have the final say on what actions are taken to ensure the legal requirements  of the ESA listing are met.  What are some of those requirements?  Redden says, “Federal agencies must put together a contingency plan to study specific alternative hydro actions, such as (augmenting river) flow and/or reservoir draw downs as well as what it will take to breach the lower Snake River dams if all other measures fail.”

Washington, Oregon, Idaho, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a host of tribal councils, and the Bonneville Power Administration, and others must work together to make hard decisions on this crucial problem. Otherwise, the courts will!