Our Voice: ‘Big bad wolf’ Image Doesn’t Match Behavior: No one has more involvement in Idaho’s wolf conservation than Defenders’ Senior Northwest Representative, Suzanne Stone. She was a Yellowstone and Idaho wolf reintroduction team member, and she is also one of the top livestock-wolf conflict prevention experts in the country with nearly 30 years of “frontlines” field experience.

Seven years ago, working with Idaho’s Blaine County, Lava Lake Land & Livestock and the U.S. Forest Service, Suzanne helped Defenders of Wildlife start what is today the nation’s largest wolf and domestic sheep coexistence operation in Idaho’s Wood River Valley. But, while Suzanne and others continue to make great strides towards protecting wolves in the West, Idaho politicians’ state-sponsored war on wolves is far from over. We continue to battle high levels of animosity for wolves taken directly from fairytales and folklore. Suzanne recently published her thoughts on the matter in an opinion piece in the Idaho Statesman. As Suzanne says: demonizing wolves doesn’t match reality. We hope you’ll take the time to read the latest from one of the top wolf advocates in the country!

Two Wolves Poached in Montana: Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Enforcement reported that two wolves were poached in southwest Montana in May. One wolf was killed just outside of Yellowstone National Park near Gardiner and the other wolf was killed just north of the Centennial Valley. Montana’s wolf hunting season ended on March 15. The fine for killing a wolf outside of hunting season is $1,000. A reward is being offered for any information that helps solve this crime. We hope that law enforcement finds and brings the people responsible for the killing of these wolves to justice and deter future tragic killings.

Expansion Trend Continues in Washington: As you may have heard, in May, a gray wolf successfully crossed over the Cascade Crest in Washington, making it as far as Interstate-90 between North Bend and Snoqualmie Pass before it was tragically killed when hit by a vehicle. Now, another wolf has made headlines for dispersing into a new area of in Washington State. Wildlife monitoring cameras recently recorded pictures of a wolf between Leavenworth and Stevens Pass in the north central portion of the state. There is ample suitable habitat for wolves across much of Washington, including throughout the National Forests in the Cascades, on state and private forest lands in southwest Washington, and in Olympic National Park. But, to date, the majority of that habitat remains unoccupied, and western Washington hasn’t had a resident wolf population since the early 1900s. We’re of course thrilled by any wolf dispersal in the state–it’s a sign of progress in Washington’s ongoing wolf conservation story!

The Science Behind the “Genetic Rescue” of Mexican Gray Wolves: By the 1970s, Mexican gray wolves – still the rarest type of wolf in the world– were almost wiped from the face of the earth. In fact, every Mexican wolf alive today is a descendant from only seven individuals. While efforts are underway to recovery this species, scientists and wildlife conservationists face the ongoing struggle of ensuring this species has the genetic diversity it needs to survive. With such a limited gene pool, wildlife biologists look for every opportunity to add different genetics to the current population of just over 100 Mexican gray wolves living in the Southwestern U.S.

The easiest strategy is simply releasing captive Mexican gray wolves into the wild, hoping these animals will find mates and produce pups. But recently, another strategy is gaining momentum. Called “cross-fostering,” this strategy mirrors the concept of our own parent foster care. When it comes to cross-fostering for Mexican gray wolves, wildlife biologists introduce infant pups from one litter – perhaps pups born in captivity or wild-born pups with an inexperienced mom –into a wild litter with an experienced mom. The hope is that the surrogate mom will then raise the pups as her own. Wolves cannot count and when pups are very young, the likelihood of the surrogate mother assuming responsibility is high.

This is a complicated strategy because it involves finding two litters of pups that are very close in age and moving pups long distances. So far, it’s been employed successfully once for Mexican gray wolves. In May last year, the Service cross-fostered two pups into a den with a more experienced mother —part of the Dark Canyon Mexican gray wolf pack in New Mexico. Right now, wildlife biologists are looking for denning females in the Apache National Forest that they believe could be good candidates for cross-fostering new pups.

We are hopeful that cross-fostering continues to improve the genetics of wild Mexican gray wolves. But, it cannot make up for what the Service must continue to do if lobos are to survive and thrive. First, the Service needs to develop a detailed “genetic rescue” plan to improve the sustainability of the population. Such a plan should not only include cross-fostering, but it should also request that the Service release many more wolves from captivity and also require the Service to establish additional populations of wolves. In addition, the Service must develop a science-based recovery plan. Lobos have been waiting almost 40 years for this recovery plan – no wonder they remain on the edge of extinction!!

Famous Wolf OR-7 May Be Having More Pups

Biologists say the well-loved alpha male wolf OR-7 and his mate, of the Rogue pack, appear to be denning in high-elevation U.S. Forest Service land in Oregon. The pair had three pups last year and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists say they're not 100 percent sure the wolves are working on a second litter of pups, but signs -- like the wolves' highly localized activity -- certainly point to it.

"Since we suspect they're denning, we won't go in until after May or into June to confirm it," said state wildlife biologist Mark Vargas.

Since early May, biologists have been trying to get a new GPS collar fitted on OR-7 or another member of the pack; the GPS component of OR-7's old collar is dead and now sends only faint signals. The Rogue pack is one of nine Oregon wolf packs; Oregon had a total of 77 known wolves at the end of 2014, according to the state's wildlife department.

Read more in the Mail Tribune.

OR-7, mate may be adding to their pack

Wolf OR-7 and his mate appear to be trying to add to their now-famous pack in eastern Jackson County.

Biologists say the alpha male and female of the Rogue Pack appear to be denning in high-elevation U.S. Forest Service land east of Butte Falls and Prospect.

The pair denned last year and successfully had three pups that apparently survived 2014 to earn the official designation as a pack by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists say they are not 100 percent sure OR-7 is in the midst of fathering a second round of pups, but the wolves' recent lack of activity seems to point that way.

"Since we suspect they're denning, we won't go in until after May or into June to confirm it," says Mark Vargas, ODFW's Rogue District wildlife biologist.

Michelle Dennehy, ODFW's wolf program spokeswoman, says agency biologists plan to conduct their annual pup surveys in late June.

State and federal biologists since early May also have been trying to get a new GPS collar fitted on OR-7 or another member of the pack, Vargas says.

OR-7's collar enabled biologists and others worldwide to track his famous journey from Northeast Oregon into Western Oregon and across Northern California in 2012 and 2013 before he settled down with a pack in eastern Jackson and western Klamath counties.

The GPS component of that collar is dead, and it now sends just faint electronic signals biologists hope to pick up with a radio receiver to find, capture and collar one of the animals, Vargas says.

The pack's name is derived from the upper Rogue River watershed and the Rogue Wildlife Management Unit in eastern Jackson County, where the wolves spend the majority of their time in the South Cascades.

The Rogue Pack is one of 10 Oregon wolf packs. Also documented are six known pairs of wolves in the state, including two now in the Keno area south of the Rogue Pack's most common haunts. Oregon had a total of 77 known wolves at the end of 2014, according to ODFW statistics.

OR-7 was a young member of Northeast Oregon's Imnaha Pack when he was collared in February 2011, eight months before he left the pack in a "dispersal" trek in search of a mate and new territory.

He traveled south and west until he crossed the Cascade crest, becoming the first wolf in Western Oregon since 1937. He later spent more than a year traveling in Northern California, where he was the Golden State's first known wolf since 1924.

For close to two years, he has stayed within his home territory of eastern Jackson, western Klamath and southeastern Douglas counties, according to ODFW.

Dead Wolves Can’t Be Accidents

Last fall an endangered gray wolf successfully roamed south from the Northern Rockies to the north rim of the Grand Canyon for the first time in over seventy years.

As we celebrated this historic return, this wolf, “Echo”, was shot and killed illegally. What’s worse is the killer walked away scot-free. But it looks like things will get worse before they get better. What happened to the Grand Canyon wolf just happened again in Colorado.

What’s being done to wolves and imperiled wildlife all across the west right now is a crime—and WildEarth Guardians and you are the best hope for change. We need your help to end the senseless killing of wolves—a crime that will go unpunished without our work.

a killing starkly reminiscent of the recent shooting death of the Grand Canyon wolf named Echo, another wandering wolf has been shot, this time on public land near the source of the Colorado River about 100 miles west of Boulder. Once again, a gunman has killed a wolf whose only "crime" was seeking a mate and a new home.

To put a stop to these heinous, illegal wolf killings, we set up the Center's Predator Defense Fund. A generous supporter has stepped forward to match dollar-for-dollar any donations given in the next few hours.

As tragic as the news from Colorado is, there's an even more insidious threat to wolves emerging in the Southwest. The Center has learned that the feds may be planning to ditch development of a science-based recovery plan for Mexican gray wolves in favor of a backroom deal with wolf-hating state governments. This move will reverse years of effort to save the "lobo," threatening its chance of survival. There are only 109 wolves left in the Southwest, and unless the best science is put into place for their protection, they could be shot, trapped and poisoned out of existence.

We must stop these deadly compromises in wolf recovery. Please give to the Center's Predator Defense Fund by Wednesday, and a generous supporter will match your donation dollar-for-dollar.

For years, the Mexican gray wolf program has operated without a formal recovery plan. Twice, in 1995 and 2012, scientists delivered a draft plan that would have secured a future for these critically endangered wolves -- and twice, politics has interfered.

Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering doing away with the science altogether -- cutting a back-room deal with politicians and wealthy lobbyists, a deal that may lead to open season on wolves. The cattle industry must be ecstatic.

Your matched gift to the Predator Defense Fund will help stop this betrayal of our Rocky Mountain and Southwest wolves.

Our wolf specialists and lawyers will organize, bring pressure and go to court if necessary to see that wolves everywhere are given the science-based protection they need. Your donation to the Predator Defense Fund will be matched if you give before the end of Wednesday, June 3. We'll put your gift to use fighting for the future of these magnificent survivors.

Please make your dollar-for-dollar matched donation today.

On April 29, someone killed another endangered wolf—this time in Colorado. Sadly, we know the likely outcome for the hunter. No prosecution. “Oops”, another wolf dead, and another hunter free to kill wolves again.

Thanks to a flawed government approach called the McKittrick policy people are getting away with murder solely by saying: “Oops! I didn’t know I shot a wolf”.
WildEarth Guardians is in court trying to overturn the McKittrick policy and make sure people don’t get away with murder simply by claiming they didn’t intend to kill an animal protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Your support can help Guardians overturn the McKittrick policy and end the rampant persecution of wildlife. We have the credibility; the experts, the experience, and the commitment to change the way wildlife are viewed and treated across the American West.

Your gift will make this possible. We need your help with a gift of $25, $50, $100 or more. Can I count on your strongest support ever today?

Your support of WildEarth Guardians makes you a Guardian of the Wild. Your support enables us to take action to end this and the other policies and practices that allow people to kill, maim, and torture without consequences. You can help end this and other wildlife killing abuses across the West. Thanks to you, wildlife can have a voice. Please join us.

Please help welcome him with a message encouraging him to safeguard wildlife like Tongass brown and black bears, wolves, deer and Alaska’s famous salmon. The era of ancient tree clear-cuts should end!

Urge the new Tongass supervisor to protect Tongass wildlife! A new forest supervisor has arrived in the Tongass.

National Forest. I will be meeting with Earl Stewart soon and hope you can help me welcome him.

Can you send a message encouraging Supervisor Stewart to better protect the bears, wolves, deer and salmon that rely on the forest’s ancient trees?

Tourists flock to the Tongass to be awed by a one-of-a-kind wilderness and wildlife experience in America’s largest national forest. Bears scooping up wriggling salmon from rushing streams. The howl of a wolf. An eagle soaring overhead clutching a fish.

But traditions die hard. The timber industry still has a stranglehold on Tongass management, even though it costs millions in taxpayer dollars to keep the industry afloat. As you read this, old-growth trees are falling on Prince of Wales Island where the future for wolves is already uncertain.
New leadership could be a key to bringing the forest into better balance and ending logging of our old giant trees.

Will you please welcome the new forest supervisor and tell him you want the ancient trees – and the wildlife that relies on them – protected?

The Tongass’ ancient tree stands are the key to supporting the forest’s wildlife; salmon rely on big tree roots to protect their spawning streams; Sitka black-tailed deer eat the moss that clings to tree bark; and bears and wolves thrive when the ecosystem is bursting with life.

A new forest supervisor could be a key to ending the era of tax-payer funded old-growth clear-cuts in America's Tongass.
Send him a message today.

Wolf Shot in Colorado

FWS confirmed that the
animal killed last month in
Colorado was a gray wolf.

Please give to help us fight for wolf conservation in America!

It's with a heavy heart that we report that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has now confirmed that the animal killed by a hunter in Colorado on April 29^th was indeed a gray wolf.

As with any killing of an endangered species, FWS is investigating the shooting – so far, it is believed that the shooter misidentified the wolf as a coyote. Defenders fully supports this investigation.

This is the third confirmed wolf to disperse to Colorado from the Northern Rockies since wolves were reintroduced there in the 1990s. Wolves have also dispersed on their own to California, Arizona and Utah from the Northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest. It’s a lesson that left on their own, wolves can fill in the blank spots on the map where suitable wolf habitat remains empty.

This incident also reinforces the critical need for continued federal protections for gray wolves. Removing federal protections would make it less likely that wolves would be able to establish new packs in areas outside their current range, essentially halting wolf recovery into western Colorado in its tracks.

Our job, yours and ours, is to give these magnificent animals the protection they need and deserve – and then to let nature take its course.

Defenders of Wildlife leads the nation in the fight for sensible wolf conservation. Won't you chip in?