On March 15, 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service published a rule proposing to prematurely remove gray wolves across the country from the Endangered Species Act. This is now the third attempt by the federal government to remove these critical protections; the previous two rejected for violating basic scientific and recovery standards. This is a crucial moment for wolves and the Endangered Species Act!

Federal protections have long held state wildlife agencies to higher protective standards for wolves, but the proposed rule will place the fate of the species completely in the hands of agencies largely beholden to hunting and agriculture interests. This will have lasting, negative impacts to wolf recovery. As an example in Oregon, removing protections will likely mean the death of OR-7’s Rogue Pack near Crater Lake!

Individual dispersing wolves from the Rocky Mountain population and newly established packs benefit from federal protections from prohibitions on hunting and trapping. Severing protections will greatly hinder if not altogether prevent the successful spread of wolves across vast wild areas of the West, jeopardizing ongoing recovery.

This attempt by the Fish and Wildlife Service is a failure. It marks the collapse of sound science and integrity in wildlife conservation beneath the weight of politics. But it is also an opportunity to demonstrate to this administration that the people of this country resoundingly support science, still expect recovery of imperiled wildlife, and desire comprehensive wolf recovery!

Below is a link to the comment portal, and we have also prepared language that you can copy and paste into the comment section if you desire. Please personalize your comments urging the US Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain wolf protections!

Take action now, and tell the US Fish and Wildlife Service that wolf delisting is premature because many areas critical to the species recovery are yet to be inhabited and federal protections are necessary to achieve comprehensive recovery!

Sample comment: Please maintain protections for gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act. I am concerned that absent these protections, ongoing wolf recovery will stagnate and the species will be limited to isolated populations. Continued federal protections are needed to ensure connectivity between populations and genetic diversity. Protections are also necessary to prevent the decimation of the species in states where wolves enjoy little-to-no state-level protection. I urge you to reject this proposal and maintain the current listing status of the gray wolf.

Image, top of page: OR-11, a male pup born to the Walla Walla pack later dispersed and became the breeding male of the Mt. Emily pack (photo by ODFW).

The post National Wolf Protections in Jeopardy, Take Action Today! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2018

Court Grants Emergency Halt of Washington’s Kill Order for Wolf Pack

OLYMPIA, Wash.— Two conservation groups filed an emergency lawsuit today seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Washington wildlife officials from carrying out a kill order for the Togo wolf pack in Ferry County. The decision, issued today, orders the death of the collared, black-male adult from the pack and holds open the possibility for killing additional pack members. The Togo pack consists of only two confirmed adults plus an unknown number of pups. The kill order was halted by the court late this afternoon.

Today’s suit was filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands. It asserts that the agency’s order to kill wolves from the Togo pack in northeastern Washington relied upon a faulty protocol and failed to undergo required environmental analysis. The suit was filed in Superior Court of Washington for Thurston County.

“It’s outrageous that Washington wildlife officials want to kill more wolves from the state’s small and recovering wolf population,” said Amaroq Weiss, the Center’s West Coast wolf advocate. “Washingtonians overwhelmingly want wolves recovered, and current science says that killing wolves to prevent conflict is counterproductive. This isn’t the Old West anymore.”

Since 2012 the state has killed 18 state-endangered wolves, nearly 15 percent of the state’s current confirmed population of 122. Of those 15 were killed on behalf of the same livestock owner. Those kills have now led to the eradication of three entire wolf packs, including the Sherman pack last year, Profanity Peak pack in 2016 and Wedge pack in 2012.

“The state should not take actions against the public’s wildlife that are counter to best available science nor should it be violating state laws to craft protocols giving itself permission to take these ill-advised actions,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “Wolves are part of Washington’s wildlife heritage, and agency management of these magnificent animals should be based on science, follow the law and allow for full public input.”

Background

In June 2017 state Fish and Wildlife officials adopted a revised “wolf-livestock interaction protocol” for determining when to kill wolves in response to livestock conflicts. The protocol allowed the state to kill wolves more quickly than in prior years. It was adopted without any public input or environmental review, in violation of the state’s Environmental Policy and Administrative Procedure acts. That summer and fall, the department issued kill orders on the Smackout and Sherman packs and killed wolves from both packs. The Center and Cascadia Wildlands sued the state in September over its kill operation on the Sherman pack.

A May 2018 court ruling held that the 2017 lawsuit was moot because the court had already destroyed the Sherman pack, so the court could not provide plaintiffs with a remedy. However, in its ruling, the court also noted that the plaintiffs’ issues were of significant public interest and required the department to provide eight hours’ public notice of the intention to start any new kill operation. This notice requirement was meant to allow plaintiffs or any other members of the public sufficient time to seek a temporary restraining order to prevent future kill operations.

Washington’s wolves were driven to extinction in the early 1900s by a government-sponsored eradication program on behalf of the livestock industry. The animals began to return from neighboring Idaho and British Columbia in the early 2000s, and their population had grown to 22 confirmed packs by the end of 2017.

But wolf recovery in Washington is still a work in progress. Wolves remain absent from large areas of the state, and although the population has been growing, it remains small and vulnerable.

Plaintiffs are represented in the case by attorneys from the law firm Lane Powell.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Recognizing the ecological importance of wolves, bears and other carnivores, the Center uses science-based advocacy to defend these magnificent animals from persecution, exploitation and extinction. Find out more about our Carnivore Conservation campaign.

Cascadia Wildlands educates, agitates, and inspires a movement to protect and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems. We envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion.

The post Lawsuit Halts Wolf Killing in Washington! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Lawsuit Challenges Washington Wolf-killing Protocol

Injunction Sought Against Further Killings After State Nearly Wipes Out Three Packs for One Livestock Owner

OLYMPIA, Wash.— Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit today seeking to stop the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and its director, James Unsworth, from killing any more state-endangered wolves.

Today’s suit, filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands, asserts that the agency’s killing of wolves from the Smackout and Sherman packs in northeastern Washington relied upon a faulty protocol and failed to undergo required environmental analysis. The suit was filed in Superior Court of Washington for Thurston County.

“We can’t sit by and watch Washington wildlife officials kill more wolves from the state’s small and recovering wolf population,” said Amaroq Weiss, the Center’s West Coast wolf advocate. “Washingtonians overwhelmingly want wolves recovered, not killed. The Department of Fish and Wildlife needs to listen to public opinion and consider the dire environmental costs of killing more wolves.”

In June of this year, Fish and Wildlife officials adopted a revised “wolf-livestock interaction protocol” for determining when to kill wolves in response to livestock conflicts. The protocol provided for the state to kill wolves more quickly than in prior years. As the lawsuit notes, the protocol was adopted without any public input or environmental review, in violation of the state’s Environmental Policy and Administrative Procedure Acts.

“Reasonable minds can differ on when we should and should not be killing wolves, and whether the killing of the wolves in these two packs was justified,” said Nick Cady, legal director for Cascadia Wildlands. “But there is no question that we should be fully analyzing the efficacy of these actions, welcoming public and scientific input, and be able to hold the state accountable. This is a state agency spending taxpayer dollars.”

The department has since relied on the protocol to order killing of wolves from two packs, with two wolves from the Smackout pack and one wolf from the Sherman pack killed to date. At the time of the Sherman pack kill order, only two wolves could be confirmed as comprising the pack, one of which the department has now killed. The department has temporarily paused killing wolves from both packs, but will resume if there are more livestock losses.

Overall, since 2012, the state has killed 18 state-endangered wolves, nearly 16 percent of the state’s current confirmed population of 115 wolves. Fifteen of the wolves killed since 2012 were killed on behalf of the same livestock owner; those kills have now led to the near eradication of three entire wolf packs, including the Profanity Peak pack last year, and the Wedge pack in 2012. The rancher in question has been a vocal opponent of wolf recovery and has historically refused to implement meaningful nonlethal measures designed to protect his livestock from wolves.

Washington’s wolves were driven to extinction in the early 1900s by a government-sponsored eradication program on behalf of the livestock industry. The animals began to return from neighboring Idaho and British Columbia in the early 2000s, and their population has grown to 20 confirmed packs as of the end of 2016.

But wolf recovery in Washington is still a work in progress. Wolves remain absent from large areas of the state and although the population has been growing, it remains small and vulnerable. Given the continued endangered status of wolves, the state and livestock operators should stick to nonlethal methods as the sole means for reducing loss of livestock to wolves.

“We appreciate that many livestock owners already are using nonlethal methods, said Weiss, “since the science shows such methods are more effective anyway.”

Plaintiffs are represented in the case by attorneys from the law firm Lane Powell.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.5 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Recognizing the ecological importance of wolves, bears and other carnivores, the Center uses science-based advocacy to defend these magnificent animals from persecution, exploitation and extinction. Find out more about our Carnivore Conservation campaign here.

Cascadia Wildlands educates, agitates, and inspires a movement to protect and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems. We envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion.

The post Cascadia Lawsuit Challenges Wolf Killing in Washington! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.