"Red Wolf" restoration scandal

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odie408

Ten Pointer
Good Morning! I am a PhD student from Antioch University and I am doing my research on the Albemarle Peninsula. My study involves the interactions of people and wildlife on the landscape. I am especially interested in lands used for hunting at any time during the year. This can be by individuals who use agricultural lands to hunt, large corporations with hunting clubs and everything in between. I chose the Albemarle Peninsula because of the unique presence of red wolves and the role they play in those interactions.
What I am looking for is landowners who own land or hunt on land in the counties of Washington, Tyrrell, Beaufort, and Dare. I would simply like to talk to you for about 30 minutes about how you use your land and your views on wildlife including red wolves. I am from NC which is why I chose to do my research here but I don't live here now. I will however be in town this week until Friday afternoon and would like to meet with landowners while I am here. If you are interested in helping me with my research and talking to me please respond here and I will get in touch with you. Thank you so much for your consideration![/QU There is 171 pages right here that should anwser any questions you may have.
 

Mike Noles aka conman

Administrator
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Good Morning! I am a PhD student from Antioch University and I am doing my research on the Albemarle Peninsula. My study involves the interactions of people and wildlife on the landscape. I am especially interested in lands used for hunting at any time during the year. This can be by individuals who use agricultural lands to hunt, large corporations with hunting clubs and everything in between. I chose the Albemarle Peninsula because of the unique presence of red wolves and the role they play in those interactions.
What I am looking for is landowners who own land or hunt on land in the counties of Washington, Tyrrell, Beaufort, and Dare. I would simply like to talk to you for about 30 minutes about how you use your land and your views on wildlife including red wolves. I am from NC which is why I chose to do my research here but I don't live here now. I will however be in town this week until Friday afternoon and would like to meet with landowners while I am here. If you are interested in helping me with my research and talking to me please respond here and I will get in touch with you. Thank you so much for your consideration!

I thought you looked familiar. Was the proposal document that you signed with Joey Hinton and that crowd of scientists not thorough enough for your thesis?? I'm a UGA graduate and I'd like to propose that PhD Hinton and that whole crowd of red wolf supporters from Warnell request the transfer of all these pseudo animals to be moved to South Georgia.The habitat there is much like the area where the founders were trapped from in the late '60s. What do you think??
 

odie408

Ten Pointer
Usfws is reopening the comment period for the red woof for 15 more days starting tommorow to give more time to comment. Whats up with that? More foot dragging?
 

Jett

Ten Pointer
Watch the USFWS/SELC Sue and Settle plan in action!!!!!!


http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2018/1...-to-intervene-to-preserve-endangered-species/

Last chance for the red wolf? Advocates ask federal judge to intervene to preserve endangered species

By Lisa Sorg

- 10/18/2018

Only 200 red wolves live in captivity, far short of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s goal of 400. Another 24-35 wild wolves live in eastern North Carolina, the lowest number since 2006. (Photo credit: John Froschauer, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium)
Chief US District Judge Terrence Boyle, a New Jersey-born jurist known for his bristly disposition and barbed wit, asked a simple but loaded question in a Raleigh courtroom yesterday: “Who’s going to teach these wolves to swim?”
Since 1987, the canids in question — now down to the last 24 to 35 red wolves remaining in the wild — had their run of five counties in northeastern North Carolina. But pending federal rules, which could go into effect as early as Nov. 30 — would allow the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to corner them into two spots in Dare County: the federally owned Dare County Bombing Range and parts of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.
Not only is the acreage insufficient to sustain the red wolf population, but the land is also slowly sinking — a natural phenomenon — into rising seas, caused by human-made climate change.
Who's going to teach these wolves to swim? Click to Tweet
The rest of the wolves could be swept up and transferred to zoos and nature centers.
“Only 10 to 15 would survive in the wild,” replied Sierra Weaver, attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. The firm is representing the Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute in a lawsuit against USFWS. The complaint alleges the agency has intentionally failed to protect the critically threatened species as required by federal law.
And under the pending federal rules, if the red wolves stray from their assigned space, people can legally shoot them without a permit. “The science says it will be the end of the red wolf in the wild,” within six to eight years, Weaver told the judge.
Yesterday’s court hearing was the latest in a legal saga that started in 2013. That’s when the SELC successfully challenged the NC Wildlife Resources Commission’s decision to allow hunting of coyotes both during the day and at night — using artificial spotlights — within the red wolf recovery area.
Since then, the plaintiffs and federal and state wildlife officials have repeatedly clashed over the fate of the species. SELC’s most recent legal motion asks Judge Boyle to make three significant rulings to protect the wolves:
  • Maintain his 2016 injunction, prohibiting the capturing and killing of “non-problem wolves.” (The wolves can be legally captured or killed only under narrow circumstances, such as if the animals are threatening livestock, pets or people.)
  • Order USFWS to revive its Red Wolf Adaptive Management Plan. That includes releasing more red wolves into the wild, as well as restarting its coyote sterilization program to prevent interbreeding. The agency abandoned both those programs, signaling it was essentially giving up on the species, more than two years ago. If USFWS declines to revive the plan, the plaintiffs are asking it to scientifically justify its decision.
  • Require any significant changes to the rules to go through required analyses under the Endangered Species Act and NEPA — the National Environmental Policy Act. Under NEPA, the agency must conduct an environmental assessment to determine how its decision would affect the red wolf’s survival.
Attorneys for USFWS countered that the plaintiff’s case, filed more than two years ago, rests on rules that will become outdated on Nov. 30, when new regulations kick in. “The case is moot,” said attorney Leslie Lawrence-Hammer. “The plaintiffs can’t use this suit to protest the new red wolf rule. There would have to be a new lawsuit.”
(However, USFWS’s rulemaking process often encounters delays. Nov. 30 is the earliest the new rules could go into effect; the actual time frame could stretch well into 2019. In fact, Hammer hinted at possible delays when she asked Judge Boyle to wait two months to issue his order.)
The agency received more than 16,000 comments on the proposed rule. Among them were letters from Gov. Roy Cooper and the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, advocating for conserving the red wolf in the wild.
USFWS attorneys denied that the pending new rule was designed to nullify the court case. “That’s beyond logic,” Lawrence-Hammer told the court. “The agency is working to protect the red wolf. [The rule] is a side effect of those efforts.”
USFWS also argued that the plaintiff’s motion to force the agency to reinstate its Red Wolf Adaptive Management Plan is “an extraordinary request” and a “drastic remedy.”
“It would allow three organizations to determine the red wolf program,” Lawrence-Hammer said. “It would exclude state and local officials and the public from consideration.”
Yet a small group of wealthy landowners have influenced, if not dictated, USFWS’s policy changes that would likely condemn the red wolf to extinction.
At one time, the red wolf program marked a significant achievement for USFWS. The agency released the first breeding pairs of red wolves into the wilds of northeastern North Carolina in 1987. By 1992, the agency had declared the experiment a success.
Through the first part of the ’00s, USFWS introduced more wolves into the habitat. It had a program to sterilize coyotes, which had encroached on wolf territory. Coyotes can breed with wolves and dilute the latter’s genetic purity. USFWS also prohibited people from shooting “non-problem” wolves.
As a result, the number of wolves jumped to more than 100, raising the hopes of conservation biologists and wildlife advocates that the species could be saved in the wild.
The red wolves are in desperate need of any relief Click to Tweet
But from 2012 to 2014, USFWS and its state counterpart, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, changed course. A few, but vocal and wealthy, landowners wanted the animals gone. The real motivation for many, though, was anti-government sentiment masquerading as opposition to the wolves.
As Policy Watch previously reported, Jett Ferebee, a real estate developer who owns land throughout eastern North Carolina, had requested — and received — a “take permit” from USFWS. This allowed him to kill red wolves even if they posed no immediate threat to him or his property. “I’m trying to make USFWS adhere to the rules when they came into the state [and reintroduced the wolves].”
The red wolf population has plummeted since these policy changes, which may have emboldened some landowners to shoot wolves without a “take permit.” In late 2016, a red wolf was found shot to death on federal land, the fourth such animal to die that year, according to the most recent USFWS figures. The cause of death was not listed.
From 1987 to 2000, 15 red wolves died from gunshot wounds, an average of 1.2 per year. But from 2000 to 2013, the total spiked to 73, an average of 5 per year — a 300 percent increase.
Weaver of the SELC asked Judge Boyle to at the very least, maintain his injunction against further killing of red wolves. “They are in desperate need of any relief,” she said. Boyle said he would issue a ruling “as soon as possible.”
 
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GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
"Not only is the acreage insufficient to sustain the red wolf population, but the land is also slowly sinking — a natural phenomenon — into rising seas, caused by human-made climate change."

:eek:
 

Mike Noles aka conman

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I'd be willing to bet that with the exception of the red wolves in that pen in Columbia ( the ones used to bilk unknowing tourists out of "howling" dollars), the NPOs and the USFWS can't locate enough of them to transfer to new areas. They surely don't have 25 - 35 with locater collars unless they've secretly released more of 'em. This thing is over......
 

Jett

Ten Pointer
Well, every time Judge Boyle gives the "conservation" groups what they want, it tends not to work out too well for the so called fake "red wolves".

Judge Boyle has effectively ruled that the USFWS 10j rules, that were specifically put in place to protect private landowners, are not worth the paper they were written on. USFWS's written commitments and ESA protections for landowners can no longer be relied upon. USFWS had very little credibility left in eastern NC. With this ruling, they have now lost it all.

I guess we are now seeing the taking of our private land for red wolf habitat.

Something tells me this will not end well for the fake wolf... Nice job SELC.

http://www.wunc.org/post/judge-blocks-feds-effort-shrink-red-wolf-territory#stream/0
 
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odie408

Ten Pointer
After this long without heartworm checkups or batteries, seems they would need to get their hands on the woof. USFWS and the woof handlers have been warned to stay off the land of at least 512 landowners where the woofs live. I am interested to see how this works out for them.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I'm not quite sure how Federal districts work. Does this judge get everything since he is the only judge in the district? He doesn't seem to ever follow the law when it comes to the Red Wolves. I doubt there are even 35 left at this point.
 

Mike Noles aka conman

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As I've said before, the USFWS would be hard pressed to find 35 "red wolves" that are not inclusive of the howling pens in Columbia. I know for a fact that they are not responding to the locater collars that they have out there. There's no personnel left out here that have any ability or desire to try to find these things. This ruling will be the end of the ones "in the wild" if any even exist.
 

Mike Noles aka conman

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Terrance Boyle is federally appointed. He's such a poor judge that he's been denied appointment to the 4th Circuit of Appeals three times after being nominated by Bush. Maybe one of our senators will bring this to Trump's attention.
 

NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
So does this mean more of our tax payer $ will be pumped into the USFW to try to gain back what they've given up on? What can private property owners do now if there is on one their property?
 

RedWolfGuy

Button Buck
Hello folks. As I see from the top of this page, yall are no strangers to inquiries.

So full disclosure here - I attend NC State and am working on a research project next semester, looking at issues with wolves, including the red wolves here. I followed the issue at arms length a couple of years back(there were an estimated 110 of them at that time, now 35), and, knowing the facts - personally believe the program should be scrapped or rebooted immediately. It is a failure as is.

As it stands, the program has a historied policy of euthanizing what it finds to be 'hybrids' with coyotes. This is compounded in difficulty as hybrids and what are believed to be 'true' red wolves are indistinguishable. Coyotes are here, they cannot be artificially held back, trying to hold them back is a disaster situation, much like the Northern Spotted Owl and the Barred Owl situation out west years back. And, much like the climate, species are dynamic and continually microevolving - these hybrids are red wolves in their own right - and being they are also limited to eastern NC, should be included in a recovery effort. What in your estimation could have, should be done differently, improved upon were the program to either reboot or move elsewhere?

I live in Chatham County. We have coyotes out here that roam our properties. We also have healthy deer populations. Neither I, nor my neighbors that I'm aware of have groaned in hand wringing that we want to trap/kill/SSS any area coyotes. I've seen it claimed at least one of you purchased your property fully knowing it was home to red wolves - with the disdain for the wolves, is there any animal you would be fine with, under the ESA residing or roaming on your land?

When a person reads about red wolves, the phrase "the only wild population in the world" or some variation always appears afterward. With such a hyped...marketed resource like this, literally in your backyard, why not encourage a healthy wolf population and exploit as an ecotourist destination and importing that economy to the area?

Yall don't want the wolves around, but others in the area do or are indifferent. Are there nonlethal measures yall have taken in deterring the wolves from being on your specific properties? - If so what methods and what seems to have the greatest potential?

Again, I'm not with any organization other than being an individual undergrad student working on genuine interest and an preparation for research for spring semester.

Thanks!
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I think you selected the wrong venue if you think there may be someone here that shares your perceived positive views. Spend some time, beginning with the first post of this thread, and you will come to a full understanding of what the members here and the landowners in the infected (that is not a typo) area think of this experiment. I see no reason to reopen the wounds, but be warned if you do, make sure you have a thick skin.
 

Mike Noles aka conman

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You will probably be inundated with a reasonable amount of information from both sides, but the one group of facts that can't be disputed is that ; 1 - the animal that's been forced on the landowners of NENC is generated from Point Defiance Zoo and is human generated. As such, by law, it can't be covered by the ESA. 2 - There has yet to be a confirmed DNA analysis of a red wolf. Heck, the mDNA even supports the coyote hybridization. That's why it's been declared extinct for over 35 years.

Get those two roadblocks out of the way, then you might make some headway.
 
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