Just days after returning from recess, Congress advanced a dangerous amendment poised to allow wolves to be killed via extreme and cruel hunting methods on National Park Service (NPS) lands.

House lawmakers began debating bills this week, including spending bill (H.R. 3354) – a massive bill to fund the federal government, including the Department of the Interior.

Among the provisions debated and passed on the house floor yesterday was Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) amendment #43 – a rider seeking to overturn a NPS rule in order to allow some of the most extreme and unethical hunting practices on NPS lands in Alaska. Young’s amendment passed 215-196 late last night.

If amendment #43 remains attached to the must-pass funding bill when signed into law, it will allow the killing of denning wolves and pups, hibernating bears and cubs, aerial gunning, snaring, and more… and on national refuge land in Alaska.

Alaska’s national refuges are not private game reserves. What are wildlife refuges, after all, if not refuges for wildlife?

These unethical practices have no place anywhere on North American lands, and least of all on OUR national refuges and preserves.

The appropriations bill is part of a larger package, an eight-bill omnibus, that includes controversial funding ideas for the EPA, and the departments of the Interior, Commerce, State and Labor. The chamber is set to continue considering amendments into next week.

Stay tuned.