Washington gray wolves stay on the state’s endangered species list

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has ruled to keep gray wolves in Washington on the state’s endangered species list. The pair of close pair of 5-4 votes which took place last week, ends more than a year of sometimes bitter fighting between both sides of the controversial issue.

Downgrading the wolf’s status from “endangered” to “sensitive” would have lessened protections for the state’s 260 wolves currently in place, including lesser penalties for poaching. It would have also made it easier for farmers and ranchers to obtain permits to shoot wolves if they attacked livestock.

The list of groups advocating to keep the “endangered” status has grown over the last year and included Gov. Jay Inslee who urged the commission not to change the wolves’ status. Many of those groups launched a letter-writing campaign to Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Endangered Species Recovery Manager Julia Smith told the Commission they received almost 14,000 letters, but most submissions were copies or variations of form letters.

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In the 1930s gray wolves were considered eradicated in the state after years of trapping, hunting, and poisoning the animals. According to the WDFW, there have been no federal or state actions to reintroduce wolves into Washington. Instead, wolves dispersed into eastern Washington and the North Cascades on their own.

In the 1980s the gray wolf was placed on the state’s endangered species list and experts say their populations have grown every year since. However, environmentalists successfully argued to the commission that positive growth rates alone do not meet the bar to change the gray wolf’s status.

Also, important in the state’s recovery act is the number of breeding pairs among gray wolves. To downgrade an “endangered” status wolves need to show successful breeding pairs for four years in all three of the state’s designated areas which include one in eastern Washington, one in the North Cascades and one that includes the South Cascades to the Pacific Coast. Breeding pairs have flourished in only two of those areas.

“While we’re on the road to recovery we’re still not there yet,” says John Rosapepe with the Endangered Species Coalition, a non-profit organization based in California. “You would need breeding pairs in all three units for a four year period and that hasn’t occurred.”

Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended the gray wolf’s status be downgraded anyway, arguing their would still be steps in place to protect the wolves, including maximum poaching penalties of up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. They also say, under the recovery act, labeling wolves as “endangered” means they are seriously threatened with extinction, which they argue, is not accurate.

“There is a lot of good science that informs the recommendation that wolves are not threatened with extinction in Washington,” says Smith.

Luke Duecy is a reporter for KIRO Newsradio.