Death of Red Wolf Highlights Problems With Changing Pennsylvania Law

In North Carolina, a sixth red wolf in the past month was killed by an apparent gunshot wound and recovered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday.

There are less than 100 red wolves left in the wild. This death brings the total to 14 this year. Nine have been confirmed or suspected as having resulted from a gunshot wound.

The dead wolf was found on private property in western Hyde County, one of five North Carolina counties that form the only free roaming habitat for the federally protected species.

You can read more about the story in this Sun Journal report, which points out that there is no record of a red wolf ever attacking a person unprovoked, and that there is a reward being offered for information leading to the responsible person.

This incident points out one of the significant flaws with Pennsylvania HB 1576, the law that would undercut the ability of the Game and Fish and Boat Commissions to make independent, science based decisions on whether to list threatened and endangered species.

HB 1576 naively requires that the Commissions create a "centralized database" that provides, among other things, detailed information about the "specific areas" where each listed or designated species is "known to be present."  This is more than publicly designating a habitat that needs to be protected for species recovery - it means directly informing those with both a direct and indirect financial stake in the development specifically where threatened and endangered species are known to exist.

It's the rule of unintended consequences. The publication requirement will make efforts to ensure recovery of the species more difficult for conservation organizations.  It will inevitably lead to increased poaching of protected species, increased harm to protected habitat, and decreased likelihood that the species will be removed from the protected list. Where the law plainly aims to promote commercial development over species protection, it's long term effect is likely to do just the opposite.

HB 1576 is a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation that needs to be put in a No. 2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's porch, and forgotten.

George Jugovic, Jr. is chief counsel for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh.