Time is running out for wolf recovery in America. We've already lost 1,703 gray wolves to hunters and trappers in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin since wolves were removed from federal endangered species protection in 2011 and management was handed over to individual states. This slaughter has been largely unpublicized and has therefore been unnoticed by the greater public. The situation is dire, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now plans to remove protections for wolves across nearly the entire country. This will be disastrous for the gray wolf's long-term health and survival. 

• Learn more about the war on wolves
• See what hunters don't want you to know: "Wolf Myths & Facts"
• Watch our film, "The Imperiled American Wolf"
• Read the New York Times Editorials: "After Years of Progress, A Setback in Saving the Wolf" & "Don't Forsake the Gray Wolf"
• Take action to stop the slaughter & relist wolves as endangered
• Support our work by donating today

The image above is one of the five billboards we installed on highways approaching the entrances to Yellowstone National Park in May. They will greet tourists visiting the park via Montana, Wyoming and Idaho and are designed to get them to wake up to the desperate plight of wolves in America.

We really need your help to sustain this billboard campaign throughout the summer and to expand it to even more locations. PLEASE DONATE TODAY!

"Sac Bee" calls for investigation of
USDA Wildlife Services "predator
control" program. Editorial | Cartoon

For years we've been the driving force behind a nationwide push for a Congressional investigation and oversight hearings on Wildlife Services. We've also been working with Tom Knudson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the Sacramento Bee, on an in-depth exposé of USDA Wildlife Services' out-of-control "predator control" program.

The Bee's latest articles show the urgency with which both trappers and wildlife advocates are now calling for reform of Wildlife Services.

- Reform urged for Wildlife Services - Sacramento Bee, Nov. 18, 2012

- Federal Wildlife Services makes a killing in animal-control business - Sacramento Bee, Nov. 18, 2012

- See Sac Bee's full investigative series, features, videos and editorials

The two U.S. Representatives we've been working with to get oversight hearings and agency reform—Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) and John Campbell (R-California)—have requested just that, citing the program's waste of federal dollars, harm to ecosystems, and secrecy regarding practices and spending. Read letter to Committee Chair, Darrell Issa

In other good news, a "notice of violation" and $2,400 fine has been issued to a Wildlife Services' employee who placed a spring-loaded sodium cyanide ejector (M-44) near a family's home in Texas that killed their dog, Bella. Read Bella's story

April 4, 2012 - In February we received a call about a bobcat caught in an illegally set strangling snare on private property. We immediately rushed to the location and found an adult male bobcat caught around the torso. He had been trapped for about 12 hours. Read story

Fortunately we got there in time to save his life by restraining him and cutting him free. We were rewarded by his immediate race for freedom, and—amazingly—we caught all this on video. Our footage will be an important tool in bringing about essential trapping reform and we will be sharing it broadly.

• Read full story of bobcat's dramatic rescue
• Watch rescue video Part 1 | Part 2
• Learn how you can help us bring about nationwide trapping reform

WATCH OUR VIDEO of live racoon
caught in snare at OSU sheep farm and
left to die. These traps are intended to
catch coyotes, but they also catch
innocent wildlife and pets. Inhumane
and ineffective methods like this are
funded with your tax dollars. MORE

Not only are lethal methods still being considered, OSU's gates and fencing are what actually endanger their sheep

March 6, 2012 - We can celebrate a partial victory: Oregon State University (OSU) deactivated the lethal traps at their sheep farm. However, their inadequate gates and broken-down fence line continue to leave their sheep open to predators.

In other words, the snares they previously installed were killing wildlife and endangering neighbors' pets without even protecting OSU's sheep!

With a few preventive measures like repairing their fence line, securing their gates, and intalling hotwires, they can protect the sheep in their care while simultaneously ensuring the safety of people, pets and wildlife in their community. They can also become a leader in humane animal husbandry.  

Read our plea to OSU urging simple preventive fixes and permanent nonlethal solutions.

Read Maggie's story and watch our
video interview with Maggie's family,
the McCurtains. You'll see the lovely
suburban neighborhood where this
deadly trap was illegally placed by
Wildlife Services. If this could happen
here, it could happen anywhere.

Family's border collie strangled to death in trap near yard

In a pristine suburb of Portland, OR, a family's border collie named Maggie was killed by a deadly trap set in a community common area just 45 feet from their back yard. This is an area where kids play. This trap could have easily injured or killed a child.

No compliant warning signs were posted, nor were instructions for removing the trap or whom to call for help. The trap's placement violated both Oregon state law and the internal directives of Wildlife Services, the
government agency responsible. This crime was committed with the help of your tax dollars.

Read Maggie's story and learn how you can help the family honor Maggie and protect others from similar tragedy.

Executive Director Brooks Fahy
posting a poison alert in the field

Saving Native Predators

From our inception two decades ago, our mission has never changed—we exist to protect our nation’s maligned predator species from persecution.

Our primary effort has been our fight to dismantle government-sponsored lethal predator control programs. And every year special interest groups ask for more government funding for lethal predator control that use indiscriminate killing methods.

Their war on wildlife knows no bounds. It continues discreetly and routinely bolstered by state wildlife management agencies and the livestock industry, and, unwittingly, by citizens whose tax dollars are misused to kill native wildlife.

• The importance of predators
• Our work | Photo gallery
• Meet some of our supporters and read their testimonials
• 20th anniversary message from our director
• "Taking Stock:" A 2010 report to our members and action plan for 2011

Your Tax Dollars at Work

The USDA Wildlife Services predator control program is the only federal program that kills native predators at the request of ranchers and state wildlife management agencies. They use indiscriminate methods that also endanger humans and pets. This program is a primary focus of our legislative work. About USDA Wildlife Services

From 1990-1995, Predator Defense operated a wildlife hospital and care center for injured and orphaned predator mammals.

Many native predators, like the baby bobcat orphan at left, were successfully released back into the wild.

Meet some of our patients