Bill Descriptions

Three bills now pending in the Washington legislature aim to gut key portions of the “State Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.” These bills would greatly expand the circumstances in which wolves could be killed, reclassify endangered wolves as big game and turn over wolf-management authority to county officials and sheriffs. Endangered wolves need more protections, not less. What's more, the state wolf plan needs to be adequately funded so that nonlethal, preventative tools and methods can be used to resolve any potential wolf-livestock conflicts. These bills do just the opposite. Instead of being a positive, practical approach to encouraging coexistence between wolves and humans, these bills demonstrate an extreme intolerance for wolves and an attempt to pull out all the stops to prevent Washington's wolves from recovering. Here's a rundown of each bill and why they must be defeated:

Senate Bill 5187 permits the state wildlife commission to establish rules that would allow livestock owners and their agents to kill predators — including wolves — even if they are listed as endangered, without a permit or other form of permission. 
• This bill allows for unregulated killing of wolves, contrary to the provisions of the “Washington Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.”
• It is so poorly written, wolves could be killed even if they were not attacking livestock.
• The actions this bill would permit would not help conserve wolves — just the opposite. If passed, this bill would reverse all of the success achieved so far in bringing back Washington's wolves.

Senate Bill 5188 takes wolf-management authority away from the state wildlife agency and turns it over to county legislative authorities and county sheriffs. These officials may be qualified for the jobs they currently perform, but they are not wildlife experts. Under this bill, these officials would get to decide if and when wolves could be killed for wolf-livestock conflicts and does not require any preventative measures to be used to prevent conflicts. 
• Washington citizens have a right to expect that the state's wildlife will be managed by the best available science and by trained wildlife biologists; this bill would take that away. 
• Taking measures to prevent conflict with wolves saves the lives of both livestock and wolves, whereas simply killing wolves does not prevent the losses of either wolves or livestock, now or in the future. This bill is all about killing wolves.
 • After the Wedge Pack tragedy last year, when an entire pack was killed even though insufficient nonlethal remedies were used to prevent wolf-livestock conflict, people in Washington and nationwide are rightfully expecting the state to focus on preventative measures — not loosen the reins on when, where and by whom wolves can be killed. 

Senate Bill 5193 would classify endangered wolves as "big game" animals, even though the wolf plan's population and distribution goals haven't been met, and even though the wolf plan requires a public process, once delisting goals have been met, before any new classification for wolves is made.   
• While the bill's proponents say that the purpose of classifying wolves as "big game" is to be able to increase the fines for poaching of wolves, surely the state can come up with an alternative way to raise the poaching fines for wolves — and for all protected species.
• The citizen stakeholders who helped develop the state's wolf plan and the thousands of members of the public who commented on the plan deserve to have their expectations met that the plan will be followed — instead of the state trying to make an end run around the plan's provisions.