Dear Mark,

On February 10, wildlife advocates across the U.S. celebrated a federal district court ruling to relist wolves after the Trump administration removed federal protections for wolves in January 2021. The Biden administration failed to reinstate emergency federal protection, thereby opening up expanded slaughter across their range. Last week’s ruling reinstates federal protections for gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act across the lower 48 except for three separate groups of wolves. The first two groups, Mexican gray wolves and red wolves, are already federally protected. Tragically, the third group of wolves in the Northern Rockies states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, are not included in that ruling and still face intense persecution under state management with new laws allowing liberalized killing through trophy hunting, trapping, snaring, baiting, aerial gunning and night hunting. We’ve been advocating for wolf protections for a long time and now is no time to let up

Project Coyote‘s new billboard campaign in Idaho and Montana challenges this egregious mismanagement, calling for the relisting of wolves in the Northern Rockieswhere populations continue to attract millions of visitors to famed Yellowstone National Park from all over the globe to glimpse a wolf in the wild.

At the base of this mismanagement of wolves and other apex predators is a governance system that is out of sync with current science and public sentiment. Such a broken system is reflected in myriad other states where wildlife commissions continue to allow and even expand the wanton killing of wild carnivores. Some recent examples of where we’ve been countering the actions of commissions that simply shills for a small contingent of hunting and agricultural interests include: expanded opportunities to trophy hunt black bears in California and North Carolina, hound hunting of coyotes in Vermont, wildlife killing contests in Virginia and trophy hunting of wild cats in Colorado. We’re also part of a newly formed coalition called Wildlife For All that aims to reform state and federal wildlife agency governance structures and institutions pushing for change that reflects diverse values for wildlife, more democratic decision-making and recognition of wildlife as a common good to be conserved for the benefit of all. Across all these issues and more, Project Coyote is on the front lines, advocating on behalf of North America‘s wild carnivores who have no voice and are often still seen as vermin needing to be expunged from the landscape. 

On another front, we’re excited to expand our reach into the Midwest through the Big River Connectivity project in collaboration with The Rewilding Institute, the Half-Earth Project and BeWildReWild. Through this partnership we aim to restore at least 9 million acres in the Midwest to create a wilder, more beautiful, more biologically diverse and more enduring Mississippi River watershed. We will do so by shifting the paradigm from traditional agricultural practices to a more holistic, sustainable and humane approach of interacting with land and wildlife. 

Our work is defensive and offensive — working to stop wanton wildlife killing while concurrently seeking to educate, empower and inspire action for wildlife and wildlands. Read more about these efforts below and our expanded team who will help bring these bold goals to fruition.

We could not do this work without you — our supporters and the many foundations who believe in our vision for a wilder world. Thank you for helping foster compassion for the other beings with whom we share this planet.

For the Wild Ones,

Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director

https://www.projectcoyote.org/

Regards Mark

Speak up for the underdog !