First, explain why wolves are important to you.

Then use one or more of the following points:

• Only 163 Mexican gray wolves survive in the wild in the U.S., and their genetic diversity is perilously low. This reintroduced population of Mexican wolves is essential to the conservation of the subspecies overall, because without it the subspecies would likely go extinct in the wild. FWS should designate and protect the population as essential. 

• There should be no artificial "cap" or maximum number of Mexican wolves in the wild with a requirement that wolves over that number be removed from the wild, and moreover FWS should no longer pledge to remove wolves from the wild based on their crossing of any arbitrary political or jurisdictional boundary. 

• Research has shown that wolves have minimal impact on ungulate populations and actually benefit the species that they prey on; wolves should not be killed for predation on elk or deer. 

• Permittees using public lands for grazing must be required to have a person present on the allotment to deter wolf predation and must be required to remove or render inedible the carcasses of livestock that die of non-wolf causes before wolves scavenge on such carrion and localize in close proximity to vulnerable live domestic animals. 

• The killing of any Mexican wolves should be restricted to the extremely rare case whereby they pose a threat to human safety. Moreover, live removals should not be permitted in cases in which ranchers did not have a person present to deter predation or did not remove non-wolf-killed livestock carcasses, or in which the wolf had previously scavenged on such a carcass, or where a depredation occurred south of Interstate 10 where connectivity to the tiny wolf population in Mexico is critical, nor in cases in which wolves merely crossed a political or other arbitrary boundary. 

• More wolves from the captive breeding programs need to be released into the wild, and they should be released as part of families, not with pups removed from their parents. 

• Most wild wolves utilize public lands and there have been 50 wolves known to have been caught in private traps, resulting in death, limb amputations and other injuries. In addition, over 100 wolves have been unlawfully shot, and the few people who have been caught have claimed to have mistaken the wolf for a coyote, and gotten away with the crime. FWS should no longer allow so-called accidental trapping or shooting of Mexican wolves.

Most have been killed because of one livestock producer with poor animal husbandry practices.

Earlier this month, Conservation groups petitioned the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission for rules limiting when the state can kill wolves over livestock conflicts. 

The Commission will meet on 6/10.  Use this CONTACT FORM to tell the Commissioners, enough is enough!  Ask that they develop a science based plan that includes non-lethal measures to reduce wolf conflicts.   Tell them you support the petition and ask that they stop the killing of wolves on our public lands.