Gray Wolves Are Being Slaughtered -
Please Ask Interior Secretary Haaland to Protect Them
Dear John,
Despite the opposition of scientists, tribes, and other advocates, the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed federal protections for gray wolves across the contiguous United States at the beginning of 2021. Once a species is no longer listed under the Endangered Species Act, management of that species becomes the states' responsibility. State management of wolves has proved disastrous, with several states allowing mass slaughter and particularly cruel killing methods.
Wisconsin set a quota in February allowing 119 wolves to be hunted or trapped, but in fewer than three days, hunters killed 218 wolves. Those numbers do not account for the illegal poaching that took approximately another hundred lives. In total, the state's wolf population was reduced by about one-third. Despite the carnage, Wisconsin is planning another hunting season this fall with a 300-wolf quota, more than double the limit recommended by the state's own scientists.
Idaho governor Brad Little signed a new law in May that allows for the extermination of 90 percent of the state's 1,500 wolves. It also expands the hunting methods allowed, including the use of night vision devices and shooting from motorized vehicles. The trapping season for wolves is now year-round on private lands.
Montana is also catering to wolf hunters with several new laws. Hunters can now bait wolves and hunt them at night, use strangling snares, and acquire a permit to kill an unlimited number of wolves. The wolf-trapping season has been lengthened by 30 days and sportsmen's organizations can offer bounties for wolves killed.
The tragedy of these barbaric hunting and trapping seasons is illuminated in a new short film released by the Global Indigenous Council. Entitled FAMILY, it highlights the deep cultural connection Indigenous Nations share with wolves. It ends with a plea to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves.