CHARLENE STROMWALL

EDEN VALLEY

A wolf pelt is not worth the extinction of a Minnesota state symbol.

Members of Congress – including Sen. Amy Klobuchar – have proposed an amendment to remove the gray wolf from the federal Endangered Species Act. (“Livestock interests push for wolf control,” Feb. 26)

This means the gray wolf would lose protections in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, and open recreational hunting to trophy hunters. She is playing politics with wildlife protection.

Twenty-five years’ worth of data compiled by Washington State University has revealed that killing wolves involved in livestock conflicts actually increases wolf livestock predations in the following year. Hunting wolves breaks up family packs and leadership structures.

It is absolutely essential we stop this absurdity before it’s too late. Once they lose protections we know that the state has already promised to resume a wolf hunt.