Update: On January 12, 2024, Governor Inslee granted the appeal on our wolf rulemaking petition! Read more in our press release.
On November 27, Washington Wildlife First and 10 co-petitioners filed an appeal with Governor Jay Inslee, asking him to reverse the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission’s October 28, 2023 decision to deny the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition.
The petition asked the Commission to require Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to adhere to minimum guidelines before considering killing wolves, such as ensuring that livestock owners had tried at least two meaningful nonlethal deterrents to prevent conflict. It also would have prohibited WDFW from shooting wolves at random, killing wolf pups, and killing wolves on public lands or due to conflicts on public lands.
Unfortunately, leadership refused to allow the Commission to give the petition meaningful consideration—forcing a vote after only 40 minutes of discussion, after preventing commissioners from hearing from leading scientific experts about the best methods for preventing livestock-wolf conflict, without giving petitioners the chance to speak in support of the petition, and following an hour-long management presentation opposing the petition that was riddled with false and misleading statements. In this fog of confusion, the Commission voted 6-3 to reject the petition.
Governor Inslee granted an appeal to a similar petition in 2020 and ordered the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to engage in rulemaking to regulate state wolf management. Nearly two years after this directive, the Commission voted to take “no action” on the rulemaking, without ever engaging in a substantive discussion of concerns over the state’s use of taxpayer money to kill state-endangered wolves—and for the past year, it has reneged on promises to revisit the issue.
Meanwhile, the Department has continued to kill wolves and to allow livestock owners to kill wolves by exploiting a loophole created by the “caught-in-the-act” provision. In fact, of the 53 wolves WDFW has killed or allowed to be killed since 2012, almost one-third were killed after the Governor’s 2020 order.
At the same time, as we describe in a letter supporting the appeal, the overall mortality rate of state-endangered wolves has skyrocketed, threatening state wolf recovery. As a result of increased poaching and high rates of tribal hunting, human-caused mortality has more than doubled in recent years, with humans killing an average of 30 wolves a year in 2021 and 2022 compared to 14 in 2020.
If it continues, this levels of mortality could doom Washington’s wolf recovery. A population study released earlier this year estimated that if hunting rates continue at the current level of tribal take, Washington’s wolves would have less than a 50% chance of reaching state recovery goals within the next 50 years—without accounting for poaching or for any limiting factors such as increased hunting, increased lethal removal, disease, or reduced immigration occurring at the same time.
Governor Inslee has 45 days to rule on our appeal. We hope he will exercise his leadership once again, by ordering WDFW to consider a rule to reduce wolf mortality, increase agency accountability, and maximize the chances of statewide recovery.
Learn more by reading our petition with attached answers to frequently asked questions, issues to consider, and proposed rule.
Donate to Support Our Work. Washington Wildlife First works tirelessly to support wolves and other wildlife in Washington. We have accomplished some big things on a tiny budget, but we depend on individual donations to continue our work.
We need your help to make sure that we can continue to lead state efforts to protect our endangered wolves—including drafting and petitioning for wolf protection rules, opposing the Department’s attempt to remove wolves from the state endangered species list, and organizing resistance to legislation targeting Washington’s wolves.
We promise to make the most out of every dollar you contribute. Even a small donation will help our campaign and boost our morale, by letting us know you support our efforts!