Gray wolves lose ground in the fight for justice in 2025.

As the year 2025 comes to a close, it ends with bad news for Gray wolves. This is two-fold bad news. First off, a two-year-long investigation into the killing of the beloved Matriarch of the Echo Valley Wolf family, monitored by the Red Cliff (Ojibwe) Treaty Natural Resources Department, has concluded with a minor fine. The second piece of bad news is that the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday on a bill to remove federal protections for wolves nationwide. It is now headed to the Senate, and I called my representative asking them to call for a downgrade to a threatened status instead of full removal without any judicial review. Shameful news indeed coming from politicians and wildlife agencies in charge of protecting endangered species! There is an action alert at the end of this article.

More Than a Wolf: Wolf 813

It began on December 25, 2023, when a retired DNR Conservation Warden, Patrick Quantance, and a pro-wolf hunt advocate shot a wolf at his door. Ron Nordin, Jr., a Wildlife Technician for the Red Cliff Tribe, got the news from the DNR after the holiday break that Wolf 813, a collared wolf he had been monitoring for over ten years, was killed.

The matriarch of the Echo Valley Wolf Pack is being fitted for a collar by Ron Nordin, Jr., a Wildlife Technician for the Red Cliff Tribe—photograph credit Red Cliff (Ojibwe) Treaty Natural Resources Department.

Pat Quaintance reported to police that he’d killed the collared wolf at 02:00 AM on Christmas Day. Quaintance is an avid hound hunter as well as a past president of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, where he advocated for capping the wolf population at 350. The US Fish & Wildlife Service told Wisconsin Public Radio the following.

“An agency spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that a fine had been issued to Quaintance, but declined to disclose the amount because it’s still classified as an open case. The agency is coordinating with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa on the transfer of the animal’s remains to the tribe.”

Link to Wisconsin Public Radio Story: https://www.wpr.org/news/former-wisconsin-conservation-warden-fined-wolf-killing

According to sources, it is considered an open investigation until all fines are paid in full. There is no justice for a beloved endangered species! I’m more than disappointed with the US Fish & Wildlife Investigation for thier lack of justice in giving a repeat offender a minor slap on the wrist. This verdict is in no way a fair application of the laws that protect an Endangered Species. It lacks the moral imperative to do the right thing for a wolf that was monitored by the Red Cliff Tribe. This investigation’s outcome has in no way ensured equity and protected the rights of the Ojibwa people. People who revered her as family!

Watch the full story: More than a Wolf. A Short Film: Wolf 813

Killing an Endangered species can face up to one year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine. Quaintance, a former Wisconsin DNR Conservation Warden, has been telling others his fine was $4,000, and he faces a large legal bill. But that is no problem for his fringe hunter buddies, who helped him raise the money. He has had help from Hunter Nation, an organization champing at the bit for a wolf hunt. They have no qualms about killing Gray wolves as soon as they come off the endangered species list. They did it in 2021!

People & Wolves Movie: a moving tribute to the deep bond between the Ojibwa people and the wolves

For centuries, the Ojibwe have lived alongside their brother, Ma’iingan, who we know in English as the wolf. In February 2021, a brutal assault, a hunt on their wolf relative, stirs emotion and grief for Ma’iingan as they know what happens to him will happen to them.

The latest delisting threat

“The Pet and Livestock Protection Act bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to reissue the 2020 Department of the Interior final rule that delisted gray wolves in the lower 48 United States. It also ensures this rule cannot be overturned through judicial review, preventing activist judges, like the California judge who vacated the rule in 2022, from relisting the gray wolf by judicial fiat.” Senator Tom Tiffany

Where there is a one-sided government, anything goes. But is there a compromise to this merry-go-round of on-again off off-again Gray wolf listings? Yes!

Downgrade to Threatened Status

A threatened species is any plant, animal, or fungus vulnerable to extinction in the near future, facing high risk due to factors like habitat loss, poaching, climate change, or disease, with categories like Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered used to define their risk level, notably by the IUCN Red List, with protections often enforced by national laws like the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)

We all know how wolves have been treated when they get delisted! The most recent delisting by the Trump Administration in 2020 resulted in disasters for Wisconsin’s Gray wolves. Especially for our wolves here in Wisconsin. Patrick Durkin puts it best in the following clip from People & Wolves.

The law, Act of 169, is in our state statutes, and requires a wolf hunt when they are not listed on the Endangered Species List. A compromise to taking them off the Endangered List would be to list them as Threatened.

For species listed as threatened, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) can implement “special rules” under section 4(d) of the ESA. These rules often provide greater management flexibility to states, tribes, and landowners to address specific conflicts, such as wolf depredation on livestock, which can help increase human tolerance for wolves.

Currently, gray wolves in the contiguous 48 states are listed as endangered, with the exception of Minnesota where they are listed as threatened, and in the Northern Rocky Mountains where they are delisted and managed by the states and tribes.

In short, a “threatened” status means the species requires active conservation management to prevent it from reaching the more critical “endangered” status, while allowing for some management flexibility to coexist with human activities. Source USF&WS: Threatened Status

Tiffany’s bill has to go through the US Senate next and you can call your Senator and ask they vote for a downgrade to threatened!

Take Action: The folowing link will get you to contact information on your US Senaors. Thank you!

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

A story of coexistence between the Ojibwa and wolves teaches us many things, as cast members Peter David, Marvin DeFoe and Michael Waasegiizhig Price discuss in this clip from People & Wolves.