Donate to Protect WA’s Wild Families

Please join us in honoring wild families this holiday season and fighting to protect them in the New Year!  Donate before midnight on Dec. 31 and your contribution will go twice as far in 2025! The dedicated members of our board will match every dollar you donate by New Year’s Eve with one of their own next year, up to $22,500!

The Ethical Animal

Introducing The Ethical Animal, our new blog exploring the intersection between science, ethics, and values in the creation of wildlife policy. Read the inaugural post, Ethical Wildlife Policy: Embracing The Intrinsic Value of Wild Animals, by Washington Wildlife First Science and Advocacy Director Dr. Francisco  J. Santiago-Ávila.

WA Wildlife Commission Votes to Protect State Wolves and Cougars!

Our heartfelt thanks to the commissioners who stood up for Washington’s wolves and cougars on July 19, and to all our partners and supporters who helped make this momentous victory possible. Please read our press release to learn more.

A Call for Agency Reform

Washington is home to diverse wildlife, spectacular waterways, and magnificent wild spaces, which the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife holds in trust for all current and future Washingtonians.

The duty to preserve and protect these resources has never been more important than it is now, as we watch the accelerating collapse of healthy ecosystems, experience unprecedented extinction events, and experience the effects of the coming climate catastrophe.

But the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife has betrayed its solemn trust responsibilities. All too often, they prioritize reckless consumption over responsible conservation, sacrifice long-term ecological needs for short-term economic gain, and ignore the values of Washington’s citizens in order to pander to the demands of special interests.

We must demand better.

why reform?

About Washington Wildlife First

We are a small, grassroots organization founded in 2021 by a small group of wildlife advocates who for years  had been watching the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife prioritize the demands of select special interest groups over the needs of wildlife. Learn more about our small organization trying to make big changes in Washington’s wildlife management.

Reforming State Fish & Wildlife

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is supposed to manage wildlife in trust for all current and future Washingtonians. Instead, all too often, Department management ignores science, promotes unethical hunting, and continues practices that are out of step with Washington values. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What do we mean by “wildlife first?”

Are we opposed to hunting?

Do we want everybody to be riding bicycles, living in bamboo huts, and eating granola?

Find out the answers to these questions, and more. 

Washington Wildlife First

Washington Wildlife First is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife from a model of consumption to an ethic of conservation.

We hold the Department accountable to the law and to people they are bound to serve; reverse their attempts to ignore facts, devalue science, and sideline their scientists; and insist that they value the future of our wildlife over the whims of political expediency.

Washington’s wildlife belongs to us all.

Stand with us as we stand with wildlife, and demand that our state officials do the same.

Learn More About Us >