TALKING POINTS

TO HELP YOU WRITE YOUR LETTER

Every letter is different and highlights different aspects of wolves and wolf conservation.

Here is some background information that can be used as talking points in many different letters.

Dan Ashe, former Director of US Fish and Wildlife sums up the war on wolves “This isn’t about elk, deer, livestock, or science, it’s just old-fashioned persecution, hatred, and cruelty.

Wolves play a significant role in ecosystem health. They help keep large herd animal populations in check, which can benefit numerous other plant and animal species. The carcasses of their prey also help to redistribute nutrients and provide food for other wildlife species, most notably other scavengers.

Scientists are still learning the full positive ripple effects that large predators contribute in nature.

Research suggests that where wolves are present, there is greater biodiversity.

Along with the ecological benefits of wolves, there are also economic benefits.

Wolves are lured out of Yellowstone National Park with baits and calls to be shot or trapped. For the trophy, he/she may get $200 for the pelt - if it is prime. 

The University of Montana conducted a Regional Economic Impact and estimated that more than $35.5 million are generated via wolf-centered ecotourism in the park's surrounding gateway communities.

Wolves of the Northern Rockies lost their protections through federal legislation, giving management to the states.

Elk numbers across the West are above management objectives and guiding services in the region brag about the success rate of trophy animals.

Hunters are seeing fewer elk and deer not because wolves have reduced populations, but because wolves have made their prey skittish again. Shooting from truck windows doesn’t work anymore.

MORE TALKING POINTS

In Wyoming, the politicized Department of Game and Fish allows year-round wolf killing across 85 percent of the state at any time and by virtually any means, including running them over with snowmobiles and incinerating pups and nursing mothers in dens.

Idaho has a statewide, “wolf reduction plan” with a population goal of only 350-500 animals. Wolves are already one of the scarcest large mammals living in Idaho, even compared to other top predators. Idaho’s plan calls for lethal removal—including killing entire wolf packs—over nonlethal deterrents until the population reaches the goal of around 500 wolves.

In 2021, the Montana Legislature passed four aggressive wolf management bills that authorized reimbursement for wolf hunters and trappers, increased the season length for trapping, increased bag limits, and permitted formerly banned hunting and trapping methods such as neck snares, use of bait and hunting at night with spotlights

In every state where there are wolves and beyond, anti-wolf extremists are gaining ground on their well-funded and relentless attacks based on hysteria, misinformation, fears and myths.

The greatest threat to wolves is conflict with people. Though wolves pose very little threat to humans, they do occasionally prey on livestock and hundreds of wolves are killed each year. Others are hit by cars, illegally poached, or die of natural causes. And today, hundreds more are being killed during state-regulated wolf hunts. These activities may have a serious impact on the ability of wolf populations—which have not yet fully recovered—to survive over the long term.

In Alaska, wolf-control supporters continue to advocate for intensive wolf-control programs to increase game populations, whether or not studies have determined that habitat is sufficient, or that decreasing wolves is necessary.

In New Mexico and Arizona, misconceptions and myths are the biggest problems for Mexican gray wolves, or lobos. Mexican gray wolves are responsible for less than one percent of livestock deaths each year and have never attacked a person, yet they are often resented and feared in communities near the recovery area in southern Arizona and New Mexico. While a majority of people in those states support wolf recovery, illegal killings continue to be the leading cause of death for lobos.

Red wolves are the most endangered and are on the brink of oblivion, decimated by gunshots, vehicle strikes and suspected poisoning. The effort to restore the red wolf depends heavily on cooperation from private landowners and the seeds of hatred toward the wolf run deep. As of 2023, only 15-17 red wolves remain in the wild.