Environmental groups have petitioned Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to direct wildlife managers to write a rule imposing new restrictions on shooting wolves to protect livestock.

The petition, submitted Nov. 27, is the second time in three years wolf advocates have sought Inslee’s support for regulations that would replace the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s case-by-case decision-making.

Inslee granted a similar petition in 2020 and ordered up a rule. The Fish and Wildlife Commission, which has the last word, eventually sided with wildlife managers, who say a flexible policy has served the state well.

Since 2020, wolf killings have gotten worse, Center for Biological Diversity wolf advocate Amaroq Weiss said. “With no rules in place to make wolf-killing a last resort, we expect things will get even worse,” she said.

Fish and Wildlife endangered species manager Julia Smith said the department already uses lethal control as a last resort and disputed that the state is killing more wolves. “It’s false. It’s simply not true,” she said.

Commission backs protocol

The appeal to Inslee comes one month after the Fish and Wildlife Commission rejected binding the department to lethal-control regulations.

The commission stuck with a protocol from the department’s Wolf Advisory Group that allows the department to make calls after reviewing the number of predations and the efforts to prevent them.

The department has authorized the removal of 44 wolves since 2012. Over that time, the state’s wolf count has increased to 216 from 27.

Environmental groups have gone to court several times to stop the shooting of wolves, but the department’s flexible lethal-control protocol has held up. Judges have deferred to the department’s judgment.

Environmental groups want codified rules that include prohibiting the department from killing wolves on public land and barring ranchers from shooting wolves caught in the act of attacking livestock.

Stevens County rancher Scott Nielsen, who organizes the Cattle Producers of Washington range-riding program, said ranchers have been frustrated by the department, too.

“We would probably try to do what (wolf advocates) are doing if we thought we could get a sympathetic ear from the governor,” he said. “Further restricting the department is not going to be good for wolf management.”

Inslee to consider plea

Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk said in an email that the governor views wolves as an important part of the state’s ecosystem. “Gov. Inslee intends to have a thorough discussion with staff about this latest petition before commenting or taking further action on it,” Faulk said.

Fish and Wildlife has killed two wolves this year and 10 in the three years since Inslee sided with wolf advocates in 2020. Over the three years before then, Fish and Wildlife killed 16 wolves.

“It’s actually fewer than ever,” Smith said.

Weiss said wolves killed by ranchers should be counted, too. The state’s “caught-in-the-act” law allows ranchers to shoot wolves attacking livestock or guard dogs. Three wolves were shot in 2022 and one this year, according to Fish and Wildlife.

“While it’s not the agency itself killing wolves, it’s the state allowing the killing of wolves,” Weiss said.

Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind, who decides whether the department will remove wolves, told the commission in October that the department uses lethal control “incredibly conservatively.”

“If there’s a legitimate complaint, it’s on the ranchers’ side,” he said.

“I very much agreed with the director’s comments,” Nielsen said. “If anyone has a gripe, it’s ranchers, not the environmental groups.”