Washington State has unjustly killed 34 wolves 'for cows.' We must ask: Don't wolves deserve places to live in peace?
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM PredatorDefense.org
August 31, 2020

The killing of wolves protects the profits of ranchers who refuse to adequately protect their livestock or insist on grazing them in unsuitable, indefensible locations.

Wolf
Image © 2020 Jim Roberton/Animals in the Wild

If you've followed the work of Predator Defense for any period of time, you know we've long been outraged by Washington State's set up and sell out of wolves for cows and that we're not shy about speaking out. Yesterday we did, big time!

We took out a full-page ad in the Seattle Times. The ad is Part 1 of an extended print, web and social media campaign in the Seattle Times designed to jolt the public into awareness of how their tax money is being spent--on an unjust and counterproductive slaughter of our essential apex predators (whose favored diet, mind you, is not cows!).

dead Wolves

Washington has quickly become like some of its infamous neighboring states when it comes to killing wolves. Washington's slaughter started in 2012 with the Wedge Pack, kicked into high gear in 2016 with the Profanity Peak Pack, and has continued to this day with the full extermination of the Wedge Pack. Members of two more packs are currently being targeted--Leadpoint and Togo.

The wolf slaughter in Washington has always been a set up. It penalizes wolves for being wolves. It gives them no place to live in peace. And it doesn't stop attacks on cattle. Instead, the killing protects the profits of ranchers who refuse to adequately protect their livestock or insist on grazing them in unsuitable, indefensible locations. Often as not, their grazing cattle damage our pristine public lands in the process. Enough is enough! 

AND...

Washington Must Stop Valuing Cows over Wolves

Washington State has over 1,000,000 cows and around 145 wolves. Yet wolves increasingly appear to have no place to live in peace, not even on pristine, forested public land.

Wolves cause less than 1% of livestock deaths, so their impact is negligible. Yet Washington plans to kill more soon, even though it won't stop attacks on cattle. Science shows that killing wolves is counter-productive. To date, the killings have all been for ranchers who either refuse to adequately protect their livestock or who insist on grazing them in unsuitable, indefensible locations.

The state started killing wolves in 2012 with the Wedge Pack, then kicked into higher wolf-killing gear in 2016, all under the guise of protecting cattle. This has continued into the summer of 2020, putting Washington on a path to earn a reputation like its neighboring states, which have killed thousands of wolves since federal protections were removed in 2011.

Killing wolves causes social disruption of the pack, often leads to more attacks on cattle, and gives wolves no way to perform their vital role as apex predators in our ecosystems. Science shows that coexistence is far more advisable.

And so, we continue to ask: Is there no place wolves can live in peace?



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