Wolf Weekly Wrap Up

Rallies for the Red Wolf

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Wolf supporters recently gathered with Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation groups in North Carolina to show their support for red wolves, the most critically endangered canid in the world. With the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considering abandoning their red wolf recovery program this fall, these rallies served to remind officials that wildlife advocates expect them to see red wolf recovery through. Tell officials to stand strong for red wolves >

It's been a sickening few weeks in Washington state. One by one, the members of the Profanity Peak wolf pack have been gunned down by government snipers -- adults and pups alike. There's a kill order out on the remaining pack members. Once they've been wiped out, 12 percent of the state's known wolf population will be gone. 
Gray Wolf
The slaughter of this wolf family is a grim example of what's wrong with how conflicts between recovering wolf populations and livestock grazing are managed. There are more than 1.1 million cattle in Washington, 13,000 for every wolf. Yet instead of requiring livestock operators to use proven non-lethal measures to protect their herds -- which research has shown to cost less and be more effective -- wolves are massacred when cattle are lost. There's no justice for wolves in this rigged process, and the sentence is always death.

This system is broken. Help us put an end to Washington state's barbaric management of wolves with a donation to the Center's Wolf Defense Fund. We'll fight to end this lopsided war on wolves and do everything possible to ensure they receive protection.

Every year more and more wolves fall victim to this backwards extermination agenda. Never mind that more cattle are lost to poisonous plants, lightning and truck strikes than are killed by predators -- we're slaughtering America's tiny wolf population to subsidize an industry that seems to think of our public lands as their private, cut-rate feedlots. Livestock operators and the state don't own our public lands -- we all do.

Instead of sending out snipers, the state needs to do everything possible to help preserve the unique biodiversity of America's wolf population by ending this heartless killing. Please help us stop them by making a donation now to the Center's Wolf Defense Fund.

Wolves, whose wild prey is outnumbered by domesticated cattle invading their rugged, isolated territory on public lands and forests, should not be executed for doing what's natural to recover and survive in their environment.

We can't allow wolves to disappear again from the American wild. At the Center, we've dedicated much of our time and energy to preserving this keystone species. Your donation to the Wolf Defense Fund supports our work doing the science, going to court, and getting activists into the streets to stand against those who have abandoned endangered wolves. Please help end this tragedy with a gift today.
Wolves
Study: Killing Predators Does Not Truly Cut Livestock Losses
Killing predators like wolves, mountain lions and bears to protect livestock may appeal to cattle owners, but a new, rigorous review of multiple studies shows little or no scientific support that it actually reduces livestock losses. Sometimes it even leads to increased losses.

This highlights the folly in the common practice of killing predators in response to livestock depredations -- as carried out by the secretive federal program Wildlife Services and many state game agencies.

"This study shows that not only is Wildlife Services' annual killing of tens of thousands of wolves, coyotes, bears, bobcats, cougars and other animals unconscionable -- it's also ineffective," said the Center's Michael Robinson. "Our government should ground the aerial snipers, pull the poisons and remove the steel leghold traps in response to these findings."

Read more in our press release.

Last Chance for Red Wolf Survival

red wolf (captive) (c) B. Bartel/USFWS
Photo by B. Bartel/USFWS
Red wolves are dangerously close to extinction in the wild, and they need your help. Insist that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommit to red wolf recovery – before it’s too late!