Sign the Emergency Petition to Protect Wolves Now!
Secretary Deb Haaland
The persecution of wolves in Idaho is worse than we feared. The State of Idaho has made its most aggressive move yet, with plans to start funding private out of state contractors to conduct trapping, snaring and even aerial gunning of wolves starting October 20th. These efforts will occur on our national forests across the state including targeting wolves in the Wood River Wolf Project area in Blaine County if they are not stopped.
A note of warning: the information we share below is disturbing but it’s important to convey the seriousness of what wolves are facing.
Details: Last month, the state approved the allocation of over $140,000 to private contractors for aerial gunning, trapping, and snaring wolves in Idaho. The decision was made with no opportunity for public comment or review.
Among the packs targeted by the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board is the Wood River Wolf Pack in Blaine County, yet the wolves in the project area have the best record of living besides tens of thousands of sheep peacefully for 16 straight years. This year, ranchers in the project area reported no confirmed loss of sheep to the Wood River wolves despite over 24,000 sheep present during the 2023 grazing season, making it one of the most successful years on record.
The wolves in the Project Area are helping to prove that nonlethal methods are more effective in protecting livestock than randomly killing wolves and other native carnivores. Yet, the State of Idaho is funding efforts to kill them and others without cause on OUR NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS!
Trevor C. Walch, operator of the Nevada-based Predator Control Corporation, presented three of the five wolf control proposals and appears poised to be solely awarded the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board’s contract for over $100,000 of the total grants. His extensive record of violating wildlife laws has been uncovered since the meeting: in Nevada, this record includes selling furs without a license and trapping practices that the Nevada Chief Game Warden labeled “blatant illegal behavior." Walch left an elk calf and other animals in traps for over ten days to die of dehydration and starvation. In Wyoming, Walch has been investigated for unlawful aerial hunting over federal lands.
Several of the current sheep ranchers in the Project Area were unaware of this decision. We notified them of these proposals right after the meeting. The Flat Top Sheep Company owners reported they were unaware of the proposal and thankfully immediately withdrew from this scheme. Lava Lake Land & Livestock’s owner and President Brian Bean has denounced the effort for its wasteful spending and risk of harm to the public.
Additionally, public records obtained from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game shed light on the state’s efforts to eradicate wolves.
The public records documented numerous wolves left in traps longer than three days trap check requirements, pregnant wolf mothers killed, and their unborn pups removed presumably for bounty, and even pups being poisoned. Numerous wolves were found with shattered teeth from chewing on the traps in a struggle to free themselves, fractured feet, and missing limbs from being left in unattended traps, and others were found with festering wounds from snares still embedded in their necks. Other nontarget animals including wolverine, fisher, mountain lions, bobcats, and even pet dogs have been killed in wolf traps and snares. Again, this is happening on national public land that belongs to all of us.
Idaho agreed to manage wolves as a valued game species according to their delisting plan with the federal government. What is happening is not fair chase hunting, this is brutal persecution. The Biden Administration must uphold their promise to stop this ruthless destruction of wolves by providing emergency protection and hold the state to reasonable standards in their management of this essential species.
Please join us in asking Secretary Haaland to end this nightmare today by signing an emergency listing petition for wolves in the US northern Rockies. It is completely within her power and responsibility to save the wolf reintroduction effort paid for and supported by the American public.
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To:
Secretary Deb Haaland
From:
[Your Name]
Honorable Secretary Deb Haaland,
As a person who values wildlife on our public lands, I beseech you to put a stop to the vicious massacre of wolves in Idaho by signing an emergency listing restoring federal protection. Wolves today in Idaho are being exterminated from the state in the most brutal ways imaginable.
Last month, the state approved the allocation of over $140,000 to private contractors for aerial gunning, trapping, and snaring wolves in Idaho. The decision was made with no opportunity for public comment or review.
Among the packs targeted by the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board is the Wood River Wolf Pack in Blaine County, yet the wolves in the project area have the best record of living besides tens of thousands of sheep peacefully for 16 straight years. This year, ranchers in the project area reported no confirmed loss of sheep to the Wood River wolves despite over 24,000 sheep present during the 2023 grazing season, making it one of the most successful years on record.
The wolves in the Project Area are helping to prove that nonlethal methods are more effective in protecting livestock than randomly killing wolves and other native carnivores. Yet, the State of Idaho is funding efforts to kill them and others without cause on our national public lands.
Additionally, public records recently obtained from Idaho Department of Fish and Game include pregnant wolf mothers killed and their unborn pups removed presumably for bounty, countless pups killed and even poisoned. Numerous wolves were found with shattered teeth from chewing on the traps in a struggle to free themselves, fractured feet, and missing limbs from being left in unattended traps, and others were found with festering wounds from snares still embedded in their necks. Other nontarget animals including wolverine, fisher, mountain lions, bobcats, and even pet dogs have been killed in wolf traps and snares on our public lands.
When the Department of Interior delisted (removed) wolves from federal protection in 2009, your agency promised to maintain authority to restore federal protection “at any point” “if a State changed their regulatory framework to authorize unlimited and unregulated taking of wolves,” a condition your agency “determined threatened a wolf population.” Specifically, the USFWS (United States Fish and Wildlife Service) 2009 Delisting Rule issued in the Federal Register (vol 74, no. 62) Final Gray Wolf Delisting Rule (page 15148), states:
“While our post-delisting monitoring window is 5 years, meaningful changes in State law or management objectives that would significantly increase the threat to the wolf population could lead to reconsideration of listing, including the potential for emergency listing, at any point. For example, if a State changed their regulatory framework to authorize the unlimited and unregulated taking of wolves, a condition we have previously determined threatened a wolf population, emergency listing would be immediately pursued.” (Issue 31 of Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 62 / Thursday, April 2, 2009).
On May 5, 2021, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1211 which authorizes unregulated and unlimited killing of wolves across the state’s wolf range. Specifically, this legislation allows for “any method utilized for the take of any wild canine in Idaho shall be available for the taking of wolves.” That means wolves can be killed for bounties, and by use of traps, snares, night raids, hunting hounds, and even the killing of nursing pups and mothers in their dens. Importantly, there is no limit to the number of tags people can buy to kill wolves. The killing is unlimited and unregulated across the core of wolf habitat in Idaho.
According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s own wolf mortality records submitted to your agency as part of the public record, there are rampant examples of wolves and their pups killed in traps and snares left unchecked beyond the 72-hour requirement, significant injuries and maiming, evidence of litters of pups being killed for reimbursement payments, and more. There is no reliable means for maintaining an accurate and timely population count when numbers are in rapid decline or at the population levels falling below 500 animals statewide included in the new 2023-2028 state wolf management plan.
We are also deeply concerned that the State of Idaho failed to consult with the Nez Perce Tribe, which played a significant role as the initial state wolf monitoring team, per the joint 2005 Memorandum of Agreement. Statewide livestock losses due to wolves reported in 2020 and 2021 fall below 0.02 of the state’s cattle and sheep 2.4 million inventory and elk hunter harvest is at or near record levels since monitoring of these species began. The drive to kill more wolves is overreactive and extreme given the actual impacts to the State of Idaho or its residents. It demonstrates zero tolerance for wolves in the state.
We cannot stand by while one of the greatest rewilding efforts in American history fails due to lack of appropriate and legal action which is completely under your authority and responsibility.
For our wild ones,