What is happening?

Wolves in the Northern Rockies are in jeopardy.  The states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have allowed aggressive extermination efforts in their states. While Montana and Wyoming have closed their hunting season this spring, Idaho continues, allowing wolves and pups to be killed in their dens. This is not hunting, it is extermination. The continued unregulated killing of wolves in Idaho, including the killing of whole packs along key corridors and pups that are critical to a healthy and sustainable population in the future, threatens the vitality of the entire wolf population throughout the Northern Rockies. 
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Wolves in the Northern Rockies need emergency protection now!  

What can you do to help?

            The White House 
            1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. 
            Washington, DC 20500  
        And Secretary Deb Haaland:   
​            Department of the Interior 
            1849 C Street, N.W. 
            Washington DC 20240 
  • Contact Idaho Fish and Game and ask them to stop the killing of wolves and their pups​:
    • DFG Commission Chair Contact
    • ​

Talking Points for Activists and Comments

In your own words
  • No other recently restored species has been targeted for an 85-90 percent reduction in population.   
  • Cutting these populations down to 150 wolves each is not a viable way to manage wolves or any other species.   
  • This is not hunting, this is an extermination campaign, which must be stopped.  
  • Bounties are being paid in both states to incentivize the killing of wolves. Idaho just increased its bounty program to up to $2,500 per wolf including newborn pups.   
  • The Endangered Species Act states that the Fish and Wildlife Service can institute an emergency listing for wolves, which the law allows "at the discretion of the [Interior] Secretary” when a species faces “a significant risk to their well-being.”    
  • The Endangered Species Act states that a species can be listed when there is an “inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms,” which is clearly the case with the current laws passed by Idaho (SB1211) and Montana (SB 314 and 267). These states have proven they are unable and unwilling to manage wolves responsibly. ​
  • Scientists have sent a letter to Secretary Deb Haaland highlighting their concerns about the way Idaho is tracking wolf numbers in the state.  
  • ​Local business owners in the Yellowstone region make plea for protections for wolves that are the backbone of the local economy 
  • More than 800 Scientists, including Jane Goodall send letter to President Biden and Sec. Haaland encouraging protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies.  
  • ​A bipartisan group of 78 elected officials, urge the Department of the Interior to “immediately issue an emergency listing to temporarily restore federal protections through the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the gray wolf.” 
  • Tribal leaders present Wolf Treaty to DOI (Department of the Interior) representatives, as a blueprint for wolf management. 
  • ​Directors of zoos and aquariums  ask for emergency protection for wolves in the Northern Rockies. 
  • ​The former director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Dan Ashe, speak out in this Washington Post op-ed in support of renewed protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies.  
  • Wolf forum where over 600 people joined to learn more about the plight of wolves. Guest speakers included Suzanne Asha Stone of the International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Adrian Treves of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin, and Rick Lamplugh, author of two award winning books on Yellowstone.  
  • ​The Wood River Wolf Project is an example of how we can better coexist with wolves.