Wolf Weekly Wrap-Up

Idaho Requests More Money for Its Wolf “Control” Board: This week, news surfaced that Idaho’s Governor Butch Otter is requesting an additional $400,000 to fund a second year of the state’s wolf control board. This money will go exclusively towards killing wolves. The wolf control board was implemented by Governor Otter in 2014; the legislation requested $400,000 per year for five years to drive Idaho’s wolf population down as low as possible. News reports say that money from the Wolf Control Board in 2014 has gone towards killing 31 wolves from Aug. 7 –December 31, at a cost of $4,600 per wolf. The wolf control board has already contracted out an additional $235,000 of work between now and the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1, 2015. Throwing money at lethal control programs without even considering effective non-lethal options for keeping wolves away from livestock makes absolutely no sense! And many such programs do exist. Working with ranchers, Defenders has pioneered many practical solutions to help livestock and wolves coexist – for example the Wood River Coexistence Project in central Idaho –uses proven, effective nonlethal deterrents like fladry, range riders, electric fencing and guard dogs to help protect livestock and build social acceptance for wolves.

Help us continue to fight efforts like this one in Idaho >>

Advocates Testify in Opposition to Bills That Would Weaken Protections for Washington Wolves: Two committees in the Washington State legislature held public hearings this week on a series of bills that would weaken protections for wolves in the state. Offered as “solutions” to the wolf-livestock conflicts involving the Huckleberry Pack last summer in northeastern Washington, the bills included one to authorize increased lethal control of wolves and another to delist wolves in large portions of the state. Defenders of Wildlife and numerous other wolf advocates testified in opposition to these bills, highlighting for legislators how these proposals are likely to increase conflicts and tensions among stakeholders, generating needless controversy and reducing the chance to produce common ground. We will keep you posted on these bills as they are considered by the committee.

“How Anti-Wolf Propaganda Threatens The Survival of the Species:” We wanted to share a particularly compelling news story this week from One Green Planet which discusses the ways in which anti-wolf propaganda undermines wolves’ continued recovery. The article hits the nail on the head: “Anti-wolf fanatics have been hard at it spreading myths and fairy tales, and sadly some people seem susceptible to this scaremongering and genuinely believe that the big bad wolf is going to enter their homes with fangs bared to gobble them up for dinner. You think I’m joking? I’m really not. But that’s not even the worst part. This anti-wolf rhetoric has made its way into the corridors of power.” False portrayals of wolves as cruel and threatening creatures only serve to undermine their recovery. You can help by sharing this article on your social networks and by reminding your friends and family that false depictions of wolves in the media have real world consequences for the species.