The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife released its official 2017 wolf count this past Friday. You can find the report in full here, but fourteen wolves were killed by humans and the overall state population grew by just seven. Concerns over high levels of human-caused wolf mortality are one of the reasons Cascadia Wildlands … Continue reading Official 2017 Washington Wolf Count Released
Reward Boosted to $20,000 in Search for Killer of Two Washington Wolves
December 11, 2017 — The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands today increased a reward to $20,000 for information leading to conviction in the killing of two wolves last month in northeast Washington.
The Deja Vu of Killing Wolves
Late last month, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that it would shoot up to four wolves in the Harl Butte pack. Again. In August, following conflicts between wolves and livestock in the same area, the Department killed another four wolves from the same pack.
Cascadia Lawsuit Challenges Wolf Killing in Washington!
September 25, 2017 — 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.
Washington to Kill Wolves
July 20, 2017 — State wildlife managers plan to remove members of a wolf pack that has repeatedly preyed on livestock in Stevens County since 2015.
The Saga of Wolf Recovery in Washington
by Nick Cady A highlight of Cascadia Wildlands' wolf conservation work includes a lawsuit that culminated in the successful negotiation of wolf/livestock conflict rules in Oregon between conservation groups, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and livestock producers. Those rules provided concrete guidelines as to when the state could kill wolves in response to … Continue reading The Saga of Wolf Recovery in Washington
Press Release: Petition Filed to Require Nonlethal Steps to Control Washington Wolves
July 9, 2014 — Eight conservation groups filed a petition late Friday requesting that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enact rules that sharply limit the use of lethal control of wolves to respond to livestock depredations. Most prominently the petition asks the state to require livestock producers to exhaust nonlethal measures to prevent depredations before any lethal action can be taken. In 2012 the Department killed seven wolves in the Wedge Pack despite the fact that the livestock producer who had lost livestock had taken little action to protect his stock.
Press Release: Washington Wildlife Agency Urged to End Support for Abolishing Federal Wolf Protections
March 6, 2014 — Eleven conservation organizations representing hundreds of thousands of Washington residents sent a letter to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife today urging the agency to rescind its support for stripping wolves of federal Endangered Species Act protections. The department has repeatedly expressed support for dropping the federal safeguards, most recently in a letter sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Dec. 13, 2013. The delisting runs counter to the best available science and ignores the values of the vast majority of Washington residents who want to see federal wolf protections
maintained.
Groups Urge More Cautious Approach on Washington’s Wolf-kill Policy
February 6, 2014 — Twelve conservation organizations sent a letter to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife today raising concerns about the agency’s increasingly aggressive approach to killing endangered wolves and urged a more protective stance when it comes to the state’s fledgling wolf population. The groups, working together as the Washington Wolf Collaborative, are requesting that the department revise its protocol for lethal control of wolves involved in wolf-livestock conflicts. Specific requests include a greater emphasis on nonlethal measures to keep livestock away from wolves and ensuring that Washington’s wolf lethal control policy is at least as protective of wolves as policies in place for wolves in neighboring Oregon.
Coalition Comments on Washington Wolves and Wildlife Services
On January 16, 2014 Cascadia Wildlands and a coalition of conservation groups submitted written comments on a proposal to involve USDA Wildlife Services in the Washington wolf recovery effort. Please click the link below to read the coalition's comments on this ill-advised proposal. Wildlife Services EA Comments WA_FINAL