Tell Senators Baldwin and Klobuchar to withdraw their Northern Great Lakes Wolf Recovery Act delisting wolves in the upper Midwest.

Since gray wolves were delisted in 2020 by President Trump, their populations have plummeted. As you well know, in Wisconsin, hunters overshot the proposed quotas set by the Department of Natural Resources and killed 218 wolves, more than 30 percent of the state’s wolf population, in just three days. It’s clear that the state has not proven itself to be a responsible steward. Despite all of this, Wisconsin law makes a wolf hunt “mandatory” in the event of the species being delisted, meaning your bill will surely lead to yet another sizable massacre.

This bill contradicts the basic tenets of conservation and oversteps the Endangered Species Act, which has set the standard for effective conservation for decades. Your bill fails to acknowledge the scientific evidence showing that wolves create balance in their ecosystems and instead parrots the talking points of hunters and ranchers misleadingly blaming wolves for the destruction of their livestock. We also find it telling that those groups are the only ones that have endorsed this bill – not a single conservation group supports your legislation.

Delisting wolves would lead to an explosion in poaching and unethical hunting methods, further disrupting our ecosystems and ultimately leading to the eventual extinction of the gray wolf. Please remember that wolves are functionally extinct in 90% of their historic range, with less than 6,000 wolves remaining in the continental United States.

We ask that the bill is withdrawn. Policies such as non-lethal wolf management methods allow wolves and humans to peacefully coexist. Let USFWS complete their status review of the gray wolf before attempting to take the issue into your own hands.

Democrats have long been champions of the Endangered Species Act. It is a shame to see Democratic Senators disregard science and bend their will to the hunting lobby, even as an overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites and Minnesotans oppose wolf hunts. We’ll be closely following your actions leading up to the next election cycle.