Over 500,000 Signatures to End Wolf Slaughter in Washington

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-half-a-million-people-urge-governor-inslee-to-oppose-wolf-slaughter-in-washington-state/

A letter containing five hundred thousand signatures was sent to Washington Governor Jay Inslee requesting that he manage wolves according to science and not to benefit the livestock industry. Gray wolves are a severely endangered species that are federally protected throughout 2/3 of Washington State under the Endangered Species Act and yet despite there being a reported 126 confirmed gray wolves at the end of 2018, 22 of them were slaughtered for livestock conflicts.

Gray wolves continue to suffer in the wild and their numbers are dropping drastically. Livestock conflicts are not their only peril, accidental hunting of gray wolves mistaken for coyotes and traps that are set out for other animals also catch and kill the gray wolves. There is absolutely no excuse for allowing the gray wolf population to dip to such alarmingly low numbers and these signatures indicate that the general consensus is that we need to do more to protect the gray wolves before they are completely eradicated.

Predators like the gray wolf are crucial to the survival of an ecosystem and keeping the natural balance of a specific habitat. When the predators disappear as I've spoken about many times before, other problems present themselves. For example, overpopulation of herbivores like deer and rabbits which will mean more plants and greenery eaten which will trickle down to every other species in that habitat. What happens when humans decide there's too many of one specific animal? We start killing them of course which means more deer slaughtered simply for being alive which is cruel and unfair. If humans would stop meddling in the natural balance of things, they would work out without our interference.

I've said this a million times but humans continue to destroy the balance in the environment through hunting, global warming, and particularly, livestock production. As the population continues to grow, more "meat" is required to feed the people which means more land taken away from these wild animals for livestock production. This also means there's more opportunity for wildlife - livestock conflicts as these wild predators will have more opportunity to wander onto farmlands in search of food with their now dwindled habitat. All of this on top of the fact that livestock production is one of the top 3 emitters of greenhouse gases that are already proving to be disastrous to our environment. Livestock production is destroying our planet and putting millions of species at risk.

In the case of the gray wolves, the Trump administration is already trying to strip them of their protections despite there being so few of these beautiful canines left in the wild. We must recognize that we are pushing animals to the brink of extinction with our actions and we must do more to protect them. I hope this letter lets the Governor of Washington know loud and clear that gray wolves MUST be protected and we must stop favouring the livestock industry as it is the root cause of so many problems.

I will update you guys with any new information.

HAPPY VEG