Speaking truth to power has its price — just ask Dave Moody and Bob Jackson. Moody, one of Wyoming’s leading predator biologists and an employee of the state Department of Game and Fish since 1976, was suspended from his job last week after publicly expressing doubts that the state’s proposed wolf management plan would ensure a sustainable population in Wyoming. Neither Moody nor the department would comment on the suspension, but Eric Wingerter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said, “This kind of behavior sends a chilling effect through an agency. It’s injecting politics into biology.” Meanwhile, Bob Jackson, the longest-serving ranger at Yellowstone National Park, was not rehired for the coming season, a move the 30-year veteran chalks up to his habit of calling attention to shady hunting practices. Jackson has lobbied against illegal salt licks, used by commercial hunting enterprises to lure elk outside park boundaries and give their customers a better chance of a kill.
