Emergency Action Needed to Restore Federal Protections For Wolves

In October 2020, the Trump Administration officially announced its decision to remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list, ending longstanding federal safeguards for wolves across the lower 48 states, save for a small Mexican gray wolf population in Arizona and New Mexico.

In a matter of weeks after the wolf delisting rule went into effect in January:

• Wisconsin unleashed thousands of hunters to kill at least 218 wolves during their breeding season, armed with night-vision tools, lights, dogs, and traps.
• Idaho and Montana passed legislation that encourages killing as many wolves as possible - by as much as 90% in Idaho.
• Emboldened politicians in Montana and Idaho passed legislation permitting extreme and barbaric hunting practices, including baiting, electronic calling, night vision equipment, unlimited weaponry, use of ATVs and snowmobiles to chase down wolves, snaring, unrestricted limits, and even bounties.

As you read this, wildlife officials in Wisconsin are considering killing 130 more wolves this fall despite opposition from the scientific community. Scientists warn that this year's winter wolf hunt devastated the population and will have long-term effects on the state's population due to the killing of breeding females, etc.

State officials call this a "conservative" number. We call it needless slaughter.

We are better than this.

In a world where we increasingly understand the importance of predators and our ability to coexist, we cannot allow the delisting rule to further galvanize a movement bent on delegitimizing science and slaughtering wolves.

Wolves need continued federal protection if they're to survive and fully recover.

The good news is that momentum to restore federal protections for wolves is building with bipartisan support from 85 members of the U.S. House representatives as well as support from the Global Indigenous Council, over 400 scientists, attorneys general in Michigan and Oregon, and citizens like you!

The Washington Post recently published an Op-Ed from Dan Ashe, the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Obama, in which he calls out Montana and Idaho's wolf management as ecocide and recommends "emergency listing" for gray wolves. During his 22 year tenure at the USFWS, Ashe had long held the position that wolves no longer required federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, but due to an "epidemic of cruelty toward wolves," he is calling on the Biden administration to reinstate protections immediately.

Despite growing public awareness, the federal government has yet to intervene on behalf of wolves.

So, please add your voice by calling on President Joe Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to relist wolves today.