NY TImes article below I just posted as I have seen many wolf related posts
(I have no dog in this hunt (sorry about the pun!-as I live in NH)
Officials with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating the fatal poisoning of six endangered gray wolves in the northeastern part of the state, the authorities said on Monday. More than $51,000 in rewards are being offered for information about the poisonings.
The investigation began in February when officials found four dead wolves from the Wedge pack in Stevens County, about 65 miles northwest of Spokane, according to a news release from the department. Within a month, officials discovered two more dead wolves.
All six wolves died from ingesting poison, according to officials, who did not offer details on the type of poison or how the animals came in contact with it.
The pack had been known to cause trouble. In July 2020, officials killed an adult female member of the pack, which had repeatedly preyed on cattle on public and private grazing lands. More wolves were lethally removed the next month.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
A group of eight organizations, including Northwest Animals Rights Network and Washington Wildlife First, are offering rewards totaling $51,400 for information that leads to a conviction in the poisonings.
“It is deeply disturbing that even with the use of publicly funded deterrents and state intervention in response to depredations, there is still a situation where someone felt compelled to do this,” Paula Swedeen, a policy director at Conservation Northwest, one of the organizations offering the rewards, said in a news release. “We need to find solutions that allow wolves to inhabit this wild country without constant death threats hanging over their heads.”
Zoe Hanley, a wolf biologist with Defenders of Wildlife, another organization supporting the investigation, said the poisonings were a “tragic, unnecessary loss” to the state’s wolf population. “This cowardly act flies in the face of committed efforts from biologists, policymakers and ranchers working to recover and coexist with wolves in Washington,” she said.
Under state law, gray wolves are listed as endangered, and the animals are also protected by the federal Endangered Species Act in western portions of the state. At the end of 2021, there were at least 206 wolves in the state, officials said. Results from the next year-end population survey will be released in the spring.
The illegal killing of a wolf is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
Late last year, officials in Oregon pleaded with the public for help in solving a similar case in which eight wolves were found dead from poisoning. It was unclear if that case had been solved.
The debate over the protection and management of wolves across the United States dates back nearly 50 years, when they were first shielded by the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
In February, gray wolves regained federal protection in most of the lower 48 states after a court ruling struck down a 2020 Trump administration decision to remove the animals from the endangered species list.
After gray wolves were removed from the list, wolf hunting sharply rose in some states, particularly in Wisconsin, where hunters killed more than 200 in less than three days.
Before European settlers arrived, gray wolves thrived in forests, prairies, mountains and wetlands across North America. But two centuries of eradication campaigns decimated the population in the lower 48 states, leaving about 1,000 south of the Canadian border by the mid-20th century.
Population numbers rebounded after the species was placed under federal protection. In 2020, about 6,000 wolves were living in the western Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains, with smaller populations in Oregon, Washington and California.
(I have no dog in this hunt (sorry about the pun!-as I live in NH)
Officials with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating the fatal poisoning of six endangered gray wolves in the northeastern part of the state, the authorities said on Monday. More than $51,000 in rewards are being offered for information about the poisonings.
The investigation began in February when officials found four dead wolves from the Wedge pack in Stevens County, about 65 miles northwest of Spokane, according to a news release from the department. Within a month, officials discovered two more dead wolves.
All six wolves died from ingesting poison, according to officials, who did not offer details on the type of poison or how the animals came in contact with it.
The pack had been known to cause trouble. In July 2020, officials killed an adult female member of the pack, which had repeatedly preyed on cattle on public and private grazing lands. More wolves were lethally removed the next month.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
A group of eight organizations, including Northwest Animals Rights Network and Washington Wildlife First, are offering rewards totaling $51,400 for information that leads to a conviction in the poisonings.
“It is deeply disturbing that even with the use of publicly funded deterrents and state intervention in response to depredations, there is still a situation where someone felt compelled to do this,” Paula Swedeen, a policy director at Conservation Northwest, one of the organizations offering the rewards, said in a news release. “We need to find solutions that allow wolves to inhabit this wild country without constant death threats hanging over their heads.”
Zoe Hanley, a wolf biologist with Defenders of Wildlife, another organization supporting the investigation, said the poisonings were a “tragic, unnecessary loss” to the state’s wolf population. “This cowardly act flies in the face of committed efforts from biologists, policymakers and ranchers working to recover and coexist with wolves in Washington,” she said.
Under state law, gray wolves are listed as endangered, and the animals are also protected by the federal Endangered Species Act in western portions of the state. At the end of 2021, there were at least 206 wolves in the state, officials said. Results from the next year-end population survey will be released in the spring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/...on=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending
The illegal killing of a wolf is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
Late last year, officials in Oregon pleaded with the public for help in solving a similar case in which eight wolves were found dead from poisoning. It was unclear if that case had been solved.
The debate over the protection and management of wolves across the United States dates back nearly 50 years, when they were first shielded by the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
In February, gray wolves regained federal protection in most of the lower 48 states after a court ruling struck down a 2020 Trump administration decision to remove the animals from the endangered species list.
After gray wolves were removed from the list, wolf hunting sharply rose in some states, particularly in Wisconsin, where hunters killed more than 200 in less than three days.
Before European settlers arrived, gray wolves thrived in forests, prairies, mountains and wetlands across North America. But two centuries of eradication campaigns decimated the population in the lower 48 states, leaving about 1,000 south of the Canadian border by the mid-20th century.
Population numbers rebounded after the species was placed under federal protection. In 2020, about 6,000 wolves were living in the western Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains, with smaller populations in Oregon, Washington and California.
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