Wolves at Risk

Wolves' Future: Protection or Persecution?

• Wolves taken off Endangered Species List
• States' Revenge: Slaughter underway in Wyoming, Idaho & Montana
• Oregon Wolf Wars Escalate: Only 17 or fewer wolves left in state
• Oregon Wolves: Not exactly a warm welcome home
• Midwest Wolves: Endangered in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconson
• Wolf Wars Primer: Summary of a complicated issue
• Predator Defense's position on wolves
• Additional information

The States' Revenge: Wolf Slaughter Underway

WOLF SEASON 2011-2012 - Unsuspecting wolves in the Northern Rockies are under siege with aggressive hunting seasons in Montana and Idaho. The Wyoming wolf hunt is looming large in the near future. This direct and immediate threat is a result of wolves no longer being federally protected as endangered species and management now falling to the discretion of individual states.

In Idaho, which has the largest population of 1,000 wolves, the 7-month-long season began August 30. Tags sell for a bargain $11.75, with a generous bag limit of 2 wolves and 6 per trapping license.  There are no quotas in most of the state, very generous ones elsewhere, and virtually no hunting restrictions.  For more details, visit the Idaho Fish and Game website.

In Montana the killing began in early September with tags selling for $19 and a quota of 220 dead wolves out of a total population of 566.  Here at least there are some hunting restrictions, such as no dog hunting, no use of bait, vehicles or recorded predator calls. Calls mimic the sound of prey animals in distress and are used to attract wolves. The season is approximately 4.5 months long. For more details, visit the Montana Fish and Game website.

Wolves are not yet delisted from the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming, pending approval of their state wolf plan, which is anticipated this fall.  By next fall, the slaughter of Wyoming wolves is likely to commence as follows. Out of a total population of approximately 440, Wyoming managers have set 100 as the minimum population, allowing a 78% kill level.  There are no seasons in the majority of the state, with the exception of "trophy zones" around national parks where no hunting is permitted.  Wyoming is the only state to assign wolves to predator status, leaving them with essentially no protection, as opposed to game animal status.   Shooting, aerial gunning, trapping and just about any other kill method is permitted. Even females and pups are fair game.  For perspective, consider that out of 1.3 million head of cattle, Wyoming ranchers lost only 26 cows to wolves. 

The wolf bloodbath has commenced. This comes after decades of endangered species protection and spending millions of tax dollars to reintroduce the species barely 15 years ago.  History is indeed repeating itself, and wolves are paying the ultimate price for the reckless and capricious nature of what is called "wildlife management." 

With agriculture and hunting interests directing decision-making, no doubt the other large predator species will soon follow this same path.  Cougars, bears, and coyotes are under intense persecution driven by these same special interests, not unlike the wolf.  Livestock is the protected species, at the expense of native wildlife. 

For more information please check out the Howling for Justice blog, which comes from the heart of wolf-killing country.
 

Can This Tragedy Be Reversed? We Must Try, and Right Now!

Legal intervention is underway, spearheaded by several organizations who are requesting an emergency injunction and are appealing the congressional decision to delist wolves from the Endangered Species Act.  The argument for the appeal hangs on basic law which requires separation of powers between Congress and the Judicial Branch of Government, and that both judicial checks and balances and the Endangered Species Act were circumvented for political gain. For more information, visit the Howling for Justice blog.

It is up to us to create a tremendous grassroots groundswell of outrage and protest directed at the states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and at President Obama.  Exert pressure where it hurts:  in the pocketbook and at the polls.  Please step up and speak out for the wolves by withholding your political capital and your dollars from the states of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and from wolf-hating candidates. 

Join the national boycott of products produced in these states and do not spend any tourist time or dollars there.  Electioneering is underway and now is the time to let presidential and congressional candidates know wolf persecution is a key issue and a sure vote-killer.

Read more about the boycott and the implications of the pending bloodbath in an interview with our executive director in:

• Wolves Back in Gun sights - Eugene Weekly , Sept. 1, 2011

Oregon Wolves: Not Exactly a Warm Welcome Home

January 2012 - Wolves were driven out of Oregon over 50 years ago and were never reintroduced. Instead, Oregon's current fledgling population of approximately two dozen wolves either migrated here in the last few years from Idaho under their own power or they were born here. The species was federally listed as endangered in the mid 1970s and became endangered in Oregon in 1987 when the state adopted its own Endangered Species Act. In the last three years wolves have lost and regained federal endangered species protection during complicated series of legal actions described below.

On April 15, 2011 wolves were removed from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, and now their protection (or persecution) is under state control.

While the Oregon Wolf Plan is better than most, this change puts our fledgling population at much higher risk because of the tremendous influence and power agricultural and ranching interests hold in Salem. Right now these interests are working hard to weaken protection, and allow them to kill wolves at their discretion. The Oregon Cattleman’s Association is at the forefront of state legislative efforts to override the management plan and allow the killing of wolves struggling to return to Oregon.

Current updates on wolves are available from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as on our Wolves in Oregon page.

Midwest Gray Wolves Have Lost Federal Protection & Been Removed from Endangered Species Act

January 2012 - Wolves in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin are now under the control of state managers. The approximatelly 3,000 wolves in Minnesota will likely be hunted and trapped in the future. Michigan has not yet opened hunting or trapping of their approximately 700 wolves. In Wisconsin, if the population outside of the Native American Reservations grows beyond 350, hunting will be considered in manaaging their approximately 800 wolves.

Wolf Wars Primer: Summary of a Complicated Issue

April 24, 2011 - Wolves Delisted: Settlement and Sellout of Wolves

The following article describes the intricate legal, social and political twists and turns in how the wolf lost federal protection and is now the target of state management.

In March 2011 a settlement was requested by some of the conservation organizations formerly involved in a lawsuit vs. the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service challenging a 2009 delisting of wolves in Montana and Idaho from the Endangered Species Act. In that lawsuit a federal judge ruled in favor of the wolf and the conservation organizations by relisting the population. His legal decision, hailed as a huge victory for wolves, was based on the Endangered Species Act, which he interpreted as protecting the species as a whole, not on a state-by-state basis.

However, as federal anti wolf legislation escalated in congress (supported by those states and the Obama administration) threatening to remove wolves from the ESA entirely, some of the plaintiffs asked for a settlement to overturn the judge's decision to relist wolves. Unfortunately no part of the settlement required or guaranteed withdrawal of federal legislation, which lead some of the organization to disagree and hold firm in support of the original decision, which was in the best interests of wolf protection.

The judge, to his great credit, was unwilling to compromise his legal decision and refused to agree to the settlement. Unfortunately the ultimate decision did not rest in his hands and within one week of his decision, wolves were federally delisted by Congress.

Wolves Taken Off Endangered Species List

April 15, 2011 - When President Obama signed the federal budget into law this month, he also signed the death warrants for hundreds of wolves. Montana Senator Jon Tester added a last minute wolf-killing rider onto the budget bill that removed wolves from the federal Endangered Species Act and prohibited further judicial review. Now conservation interests have lost the ability to legally intervene.

Never in the history of the Endangered Species Act has a species been delisted because of politics. Wildlife management and politics have hit a new low and established a dangerous precedent. Now management of wolves is left to states, and already state managers are opening hunting seasons on wolves who have just managed to gain a toe hold and reoccupy territory from which they were extirpated by ranching and agricultural interests just a few decades ago.

Wolf management has swung full circle in 50 years from extermination to recovery, and now back again. Free roaming packs of wolves in the American west are unlikely to survive free of intense management anywhere outside of the National Parks.

Please read the following articles for more details:

• Groups Lay Out Opposition to Proposed Wolf Settlement - Billings Gazette, March 23, 2011
• True Cost of Budget Deal Will Be Paid in Blood...of Gray Wolves - Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 2011

Predator Defense's Position on Wolves

Biological

The first and perhaps most important reason we support wolf recovery in Oregon is to restore ecosystem processes and function. As a major predator, wolves have shaped prey populations for thousands of years. Wolf predation differs from human hunting mortality, primarily taking the young and old, rather than the largest and healthiest animals. In addition, wolf predation helps to balance prey numbers with available habitat, ensuring that plant communities get periodic rest from heavy browsing or grazing influences of herbivores. Wolves can also affect habitat use-for instance in Yellowstone there is evidence that wolf presence has shifted elk use from valley bottom riparian areas to uplands, benefiting riparian vegetation. Finally the presence of wolves can also affect the population and distribution of other smaller predators like coyotes, foxes and skunks. Changes in the population and distribution of these species can have cascading effects on other species from ground-nesting birds to small mammals.

The second reason we support recovery is an ethical consideration. Wolves were once an important ecological component of Oregon. We believe there is an ethical obligation to restore extirpated species, whenever practical. There is no practical reason not to restore the species and Oregon should embark on a restoration program immediately.

Third, there is a legal requirement by the state of Oregon to protect state listed endangered species, which the wolf is one.

We believe there are sufficient prey, space, and habitat in Oregon to support viable wolf populations.

Geographical Locations

Based upon several criteria including human population density, prey availability and core protected habitat areas; there are three primary Oregon wolf recovery areas, and several other secondary areas that could support viable wolf populations. The three main areas are the Blue/Wallowa Mountains /Hells Canyon region of eastern Oregon, Cascades and the Siskiyou/Klamath region of southwest Oregon and northern California.

In addition, we believe that wolves could potentially be reestablished in portions of the Coast Range and isolated mountain ranges of southeastern Oregon like Steens Mountain, Hart Mountain, Trout Creek and Warner Mountains.

Population Visibility

Based upon prey Oregon could easily support several thousand wolves. This would include protection from persecution from livestock interests of the three major Oregon recovery areas-Blue Mountains, Cascades and Siskiyou.

Management Considerations

Predator Defense recommends the following management to enhance recovery for wolves. Management actions should favor wolves, not human commercial enterprises.

1. No lethal controls of wolves. (See above for recommendations). Even after minimum viable population objectives are reached, no lethal control should ever occur on public lands.

2. Livestock operations should adopt animal husbandry practices that minimize predator opportunity. This includes use of guard animals, calving and lambing sheds, avoidance of active predator den and rendezvous sites.

3. Eliminate current practice of dumping livestock carcasses in pastures. All carcasses should be buried.

4. Where conflicts exist between livestock producers and wolves, the state should always mandate that wolves be favored. For instance if predation occurs on a grazing allotment, the livestock should be removed, not the wolves.

5. In order to ensure the success of wolf recovery efforts, all lethal predator control in occupied wolf territories should be discontinued.

6. Hunting of prey populations should be managed to “share” prey with wolves. Thus in years of reduced prey availability, hunter take of prey species should be reduced so as not to harm wolf prey base.

• Read PDF version of our position

Additional Information

Read our Wolf Plan comment letter to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.

For the most current information on wolf issues, including legislation, please visit Ralph Maughan's Wildlife News website.