Breaking Horrible News: OPT Pack

~ intheshadowofthewolf

Update 8/19: Our letters to all officials involved in this situation have been updated and can be found here, please take urgent action, before it is too late for the Togo pack, and please follow up with a phone call.

The King County, WA, court hearing on the private citizen suit versus Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) regarding the ongoing “removal” of wolves from the OPT wolf family, was held this morning, Friday, August 16th. It is a bittersweet situation. The good news is that the court issued a preliminary injunction to halt further lethal removal of wolves from the #ProfanityPeakPack2. This means WDFW can’t kill any more members of the OPT pack while that lawsuit is pending; the court agreed with the lawsuit that alleged WDFW broke the law and the policies outlined by the state Wolf Advisory Group by reauthorizing a lethal removal order on the OPT pack in late July. The judge ruled that the cattle producers in the OPT area and WDFW didn’t do their “due diligence on non-lethal methods” according to the Spokesman Review.

The horrible news is that by the time the court hearing started this morning, four of the five remaining wolves were killed, including the remaining two pups.

In an act of retribution, and rushing to destroy every member of the OPT family before a court could grant them protection, gunners took to the skies to annihilate what was left of this pack⁠—including the pups.

Possibly one sole survivor of the OPT family remains (WDFW asserts that they killed the entire pack, although another wolf was sighted in the area), and is now temporarily protected from WDFW sharpshooters…one lone wolf who watched his entire family gunned down to protect livestock grazing on your public lands in our nation’s forests.

Further, WDFW also has a kill order to execute the only two members of the Togo pack, as the court order was only in regards to the OPT pack, and therefore does not protect these two wolves.

This is a horrific abomination. Please continue to call and email WDFW Director Kelly Susewind, and all others involved expressing your opposition to the ongoing slaughter of WA’s wolves.*

*Our updated letters to all officials involved in this situation can be found here, please take urgent action, before it is too late for the #TogoPack

Published by intheshadowofthewolf

Environmentalism and animal rights advocacy. Standing for wildlife, with an emphasis on wolves and endangered species; defending our imperiled Mother Earth through art and activism. We encourage a view of Nature that is not impaired by the glass of our knowledge.