Gov Inslee may actually be starting to defend Wolves in Washington

https://www.animals24-7.org/2019/10/03/washington-gov-inslee-shakes-off-fear-of-big-bad-republican-wolf-haters/

Washington Gov. Inslee shakes off fear of big bad Republican wolf-haters

October 3, 2019 by Merritt Clifton

Twenty-six of the 30 wolves who have been killed in Washington state since 2012 for alleged livestock predation have reportedly been killed in response to complaints from just three people: Diamond M Ranch owners Len McIrvin, his son Bill McIrvin, and his nephew Justin Hedrick.

But McIrvin family has long appeared to be the tail that wags the dog on wolf policy, staunchly backed by Washington seventh legislative district state representative Joel Kretz.

Jay Inslee, elected governor of Washington in 2012, has throughout his tenure appeared to be afraid of the big, bad Kretz and Diamond M influence in the politically conservative eastern half of the state.

And Inslee on September 30, 2019 asked Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife director Kelly Susewind to “make changes in the gray wolf recovery program to further increase reliance on non-lethal methods, and to significantly reduce the need for lethal removal of this species.”

Wolves “started migrating back to the state in 2008 from surrounding areas,” Inslee recited. “Most of the wolves live in the northeastern corner of the state and their territories have high overlap with federal public lands. For reasons that are not entirely clear, numerous conflicts with livestock producers have occurred in a handful of federal grazing allotments. Chronic livestock depredations and annual lethal removal of wolves in the Kettle River Range in Ferry County have resulted in public concern and outrage over lethal management actions taken by the department.

“I share the public’s concern,” Inslee said. “I believe we cannot continue using the same management approach on this particular landscape. The status quo of annual lethal removal is simply unacceptable.”

Inslee asked Susewind to accelerate an ongoing “update to the lethal management guidelines, with the goal of significantly reducing the role of lethal removal in the wolf management program.



There will be a wolf management webinar on Oct 15, Tues, 6-730 by the Wash F&W for citizens to watch.

https://player.invintus.com/?clientID=2836755451&eventID=2019101000

https://wdfw.wa.gov/news/wdfw-offers-online-interactive-webinars-wolf-post-recovery-planning