Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Kelly Susewind has reauthorized WDFW staff to kill the two remaining adult members of the Wedge wolf pack to protect cows. WDFW must give the public one work day of notice (8 hours), and announced their decision in the early morning hours to quickly tick away at the allotted time.

Another member of the Wedge family, an adult female, was killed by sharpshooters on July 27th. Officials clarified that she was a non-breeding adult female, thus implying that the two remaining adult wolves are a breeding pair. WDFW’s press release also states that they believe there are currently two adult wolves remaining in the pack; they make no mention of pups but it’s plausible to assume the breeding pair reproduced in the spring.

State officials reasoned that by killing the non-breeding female in August, livestock attacks would stop; they did not. They now seek to kill the rest of the adults.

Killing wolves does not solve problems

Science shows that killing a wolf can increase the risk that wolves will prey on livestock in the future. It is counterproductive and unsustainable.

Yet WDFW has resorted to killing wolves living in this same spot – rugged forest land – for years. In fact, they killed the original Wedge pack in 2012 for the very same reason. The original Wedge pack was accused of preying on livestock in the Colville National Forest eight years ago and, under Washington’s wolf management plan, the state opted to issue kill orders in an attempt to protect the livestock. The state killed the entire family of six state endangered wolves.

History is repeating itself. WDFW officials have killed one member of the Wedge family and they’re now gunning for the remaining adults, all in a misguided attempt to protect cows. But as we’ve learned, both from peer-reviewed science and WDFW’s own actions, killing wolves to stop livestock attacks doesn’t work.

Speak up for wolves.

Please take action to respectfully call on WDFW Director Kelly Susewind and Governor Jay Inslee to immediately end this killing cycle and their assault on Washington’s wolves.

The state has killed 32 endangered wolves since 2012 to benefit the livestock industry and has destroyed entire wolf families; don’t let them kill another.