Great Pro-wolf Letter to the Editor in the Arizona Daily Sun!

Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper is an excellent way to raise awareness about critically endangered Mexican gray wolves and the steps needed to help them thrive.

Surveys of newspaper readers show that the letters page is among the most closely read parts of the paper. It’s also the page policy-makers look to as a barometer of public opinion. We applaud these fine letter writers, who are making a difference for endangered lobos!

To the editor:
Help me understand. Representatives Gosar and Pearce have introduced a bill to all but guarantee the extinction the Mexican gray wolf from our wilderness. I would like to know where is the science or data that’s backing this decision.

I’m a certified Search and Rescue Tactical Rope Rescue Technician and a Wilderness Tech II and have been on hundreds of rescues over many years. In not one has a wolf ever been implicated.

I risk my life in our wilderness providing aid and assisting others and every living thing out there is precious to me. Biologists affirm that Mexican wolves will only improve the health of our wilderness just as it did for Yellowstone. Not a single person has ever been killed by a Mexican gray wolf.

Mountain lions and bobcats kill 30 percent more cattle and calves than wolves, so why isn’t there an all-out campaign to rid the state of these predators? Why the wolves? 77 percent of Arizonans and 69 percent of New Mexicans support the reintroduction of the Mexican Gray Wolf onto their public lands. So why are they attacking and sabotaging the recovery of this animal?

I’m proud of our heritage and this wolf is part of it. Someone is getting into the ear of our representatives. And it’s not the scientists nor the people whom they serve.

TED BROWN
Mesa

This letter was published in the Arizona Daily Sun. You can view it and comment here.

Tips and talking points for writing your letter can be found HERE, but please write in your own words, from your own experience. Don’t try to include all of the points listed. Your letter will be effective if you keep it brief and focus on a few key points.

Submit your letter here.

PLEASE ALSO CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS and urge them not to cosponsor or vote for this bill or any similar bills or riders.

Contact info for your reps is available https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members just by clicking on your state:

When you call, you can simply say something like:

As a constituent, I urge Representative X to oppose the “Mexican Wolf Transparency and Accountability Act” and any other legislation or riders that seek to undermine wolf recovery or the Endangered Species Act. Only about 109 Mexican gray wolves remain in the wild in the United States, making them highly endangered. I want my representative X to work for the greater protection of these wolves and to oppose efforts to push them closer to extinction.

Please be polite and thank whoever answers the phone.

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