Update (March 10, 2015): The House bill was amended and then passed the House.
This bill is very similar to another bill in the WA legislature, H.B. 1792/S.B. 5962.
Bill Description:
This bill would require the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to amend the existing wolf conservation and management plan by June 2017 to address the wolf recovery rate and uneven distribution that has occurred since the initial adoption of the plan in 2011.[teaserbreak]
These amendments must include, at a minimum:
• A change in the metric for identifying successful wolf recovery that is based on the number of wolf packs in the state and not on the number of breeding pairs;
• Additional options for the number of wolves and distribution of wolves necessary to no longer consider the species in danger of extinction within the state;
• Altering, reducing, or consolidating the existing wolf recovery zones;
• A determination of the reasonable prevention measures expected of a livestock producer prior to consideration of compensation or the lethal removal of the depredating wolves;
• A review of the current conditions that warrant lethal management of individual wolves;
• The development of criteria for the use of lethal management tools to address repeated depredations by wolf packs; and
• The incorporation of recent data on wolf/ungulate interaction and the potential impacts to wild ungulate herds from recovering wolf populations.
Background:
This bill has the potential to significantly weaken endangered species protections in Washington. Implementing wolf protection based on the number of breeding pairs is simply good science — wolf survival is centered around pack structure, and packs fall apart without a breeding pair. Breeding pairs need to be protected and incorporated into a management plan in order for that plan to successfully foster long-term recovery.
This bill would also create an opportunity for the Department to widen the opportunities for lethal control of wolves, something that is neither necessary nor effective in preventing predation on livestock. Wolf attacks account for a minuscule number of livestock deaths each year. A report from the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service, which uses self-reported data from cattle producers, found that wolves were responsible for the death of 8,100 head of cattle in 2010, or about 0.2 percent of all reported cattle deaths. For comparison, dogs killed 21,800 cattle that year. Furthermore, a statistical study of 25 years of records across several states by researchers at Washington State University concluded that traditional wolf management — killing some wolves to reduce their impact on livestock like sheep — mostly does not work. Killing wolves, the analysis suggested, may in fact make things worse as packs adapt, move around and increase their reproduction rates — and then kill even more livestock the year after their numbers have been reduced.
We can’t play games like this with the state’s most vulnerable species. For as long as gray wolves are listed as threatened or endangered state-wide, they must enjoy full and scientifically-sound protections until they meet the criteria to be considered recovered.
Take Action:
Washington residents, contact your state representative and senator and urge them to oppose this legislation.
Read the full text and follow its progress here for the House bill and here for the Senate bill.