To: President Donald Trump

Please protect our wolves from animal cruelty

While many hunters are traditionally honorable people, the recent return of wolf hunting has brought out a very disturbing element in some persons who have become obvious in the social media. The wolf, as an apex predator, is not a desirable form of meat to feed a family, or legitimate hunting. THEY HAVE BECOME THE TARGET OF INDIVIDUALS AND SUB-SOCIETIES OF PERSONS WHO ENJOY THE SUFFERING AND THE KILL of a beautiful and wild animal who was once very proud and ruled their environment. As the wolf is not protected by animal cruelty laws, those who love and respect the wolves are essentially powerless to do anything to prevent this form of animal cruelty, and are subject to witness it without recourse.

In a published online photograph, U.S. Marine Jason L Maxwell uses his military training to explain tracking techniques, and is offering $100.00 to whoever can use GPS tracking to successfully kill one of the famous Yellowstone Wolves. They are public figures and and are known by animal lovers, frequently featured on National Geographic. It is believed that he is mistaken about the identity of individual wolves, but he talks about the "thumping" of his mate last December, a trophy kill last December of alpha female 832F 06, which caused a pack to disperse, commonly known by wolf followers to happen when the alpha is targeted and killed. Psychology Today wrote an article about the killing of 832F 06 last December, and the grieving process that these animals feel. Following this $100 "offer" the owners of a Yellowstone support page were bombarded with pictures of tortured and dead wolves until they requested help from law enforcement for Cyberbullying.

While it may seen that some aberrant individuals may not be important to the entire wolf recovery, we believe they are in great enough numbers to cause the disruption of wolf recovery by illegal poaching (which many threaten to do while threatening to drive the wolf to extinction). We believe that these type of hunters interfere with the ability to sustain a healthy recovery of an endangered species by intentionally targeting pack leaders, destroying the pack structure leaving younger animals without proper guidance for survival, and by intentionally inflicting cruelty on these animals. Packs often disperse and die following the death of their alphas. Without laws of protection, the wolf as a wild species is an easy target of animal cruelty.

1. Mr Obama, we respectfully request your full support in stopping the current legal and illegal acts of cruelty being inflicted on the wolf, and prevent any further threat to their survival as a healthy species. Sir, you have rightly done so much for the endangered species of Africa, please give your full support for the endangered species of North America. PLEASE RETURN THEM TO THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST.
2. Biologists have worked hard to find viable non-lethal means to avoid wolf-livestock interactions, and need support in implementing them. Oregon recently passed a law that in order to shoot a wolf, there MUST be proof that non-lethal means of conflict resolution have been tried and have not worked. This is reasonable. PLEASE ENCOURAGE OUR LAWMAKERS TO PROVIDE HUMANE AND NON-LETHAL RESOLUTIONS TO WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AT THE STATE LEVEL.
3. It is requested that if Jason L Maxwell is continued on Active Duty that HIS CHAIN OF COMMAND IS NOTIFIED of his behavior online with a profile of himself in uniform. He is extremely offensive to other persons who wear the uniform, serve honorably, and are misunderstood after returning from conflicts overseas. We feel that his behavior online in uniform is a violation of the UCMJ.

REFERENCES:

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/research-animals-lost-in-wolf-hunts-near-yellowstone/?_r=0

http://news.sciencemag.org/people-events/2012/11/yellowstone-park-research-wolves-killed-hunters

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-wise/201306/when-wolf-dies

Why is this important?

With the upcoming decisions regarding our Gray Wolves and their need for Federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, this petition wishes to draw NEEDED NATIONAL ATTENTION to the issue of our wolves being targets of hate, animal cruelty, and slaughter, by both illegal and legal means. We feel that their situation is dire without immediate attention and Federal investigation and intervention.