Oregon Wolves Killed

State agency kills two wolves, plans to kill more. Actions leave conservationists questioning state's commitment to recovery.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife killed two members of Oregon’s fledgling wolf population in May and has plans to kill one more. Wolf advocates say such heavy-handed lethal means of control are endangering wolf recovery in Oregon.

Oregon has only 20 wolves, and the predators are listed on the state endangered species list. As of May 5 wolves in the eastern third of Oregon are no longer on the federal endangered species list. Local conservation group Cascadia Wildlands is legally challenging the federal delisting of the wolves. In April, Democratic Sen. John Tester of Montana inserted language into the already controversial budget bill that delisted wolves from federal Endangered Species Act protections.

The rider overrode a federal judge’s decision forbidding this same delisting, and it blocked judicial review of the decision to withdraw the federal protections. The fact that the delisting was a congressional decision superseding the Endangered Species Act is a constitutional issue, says Dan Kruse, attorney for Cascadia Wildlands. “By Congress saying this is what the law will be they have violated the separation of powers doctrine,” he says.

Josh Laughlin, also of Cascadia Wildlands, says on the state level, the group has “ongoing concerns with the way they’re handling wolf recovery in Oregon.”  Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild and a coalition of other wolf advocates wrote a letter to ODFW asking the agency to suspend wolf killing and prioritize the animals’ recovery.

Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild says, “ODFW seems more concerned with local political pressure than following its obligations under the state Endangered Species Act.”

Klavins and Laughlin agree that they thought the original wolf plan was weak, but they recognized the need to compromise.  But Klavins says, “We never contemplated a time when 20 percent of the population would be slated for removal in a two week period.”

In addition to the two wolves killed by the state and the third member of the Imnaha pack slated for “lethal removal” for livestock predation, ODFW has issued 24 private landowner permits to kill wolves. With only 20 wolves in Oregon, Laughlin points out that “there are more kill permits than there are wolves.”

He says, “If wolves are going to genuinely recover, then ODFW must exercise utmost caution when it comes to lethal control.” 

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Learn more about Oregon's wolves here.