Washington state wolves (numbering around 90 or so) are being ruthlessly killed by airborne snipers in response to a small faction of ranchers who complain that wolves are preying on their livestock. The decision to kill these wolves was not put to the voters and we often don't even know the wolves are in danger until they are already killed.

These wolves are not encroaching on the rancher's land, rather the ranchers loose their cattle to graze on public-owned lands, in the heart of wild wolf habitat. Rancher's like to graze on public lands because it is exceptionally cheaper than purchasing feed and/or grazing them on private land. Our politicians have done very little to protect wolves, instead determined to appease a small handful of ranchers who save TONS of money by feeding on public land, then ask for these wolves to be killed because they are losing money.

Additionally, non-lethal methods of protecting livestock are dismissed out of hand and rarely given an honest chance of working. I propose a ban on livestock feeding on public lands unless ranchers are willing to accept the risk of feeding their stock (almost for free) in wild wolf habitat. There are more livestock in a single rancher's herd than there are wolves in the entirety of the state, possibly even the entire West Coast. If the loss of a statistically insignificant amount of livestock is greater than the cost of private feeding, then these ranchers can take their meat elsewhere.

Wolves are going to be wolves, either let them eat a few cows or stop putting Big Macs in their front yard and shooting them when they take a bite. I do not hate or wish bad fortune on ranchers, I just ask that they ply their trade responsibly and with a willingness to work for a sustainable partnership with the natural species of our state.