Dozens gathered outside of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife office in Olympia Thursday evening to protest the killing of a pack of wolves in northeastern Washington. The group rallied in opposition of the agency's decision to eradicate the Profanity Peak pack in order to protect cattle.
Many protesters carried pictures of wolves and signs that read "Protect The Wolves" and "Stop The Slaughter." Amaroq Weiss is a West Coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity.
"When agencies start killing wolves, and when hunting harvest seasons are allowed on wolves, social tolerance for wolves actually goes down," she said. "And not only that, poaching of wolves increases. So we have to stop relying on common sense, our gut instinct, our anecdotes. We have to be looking at what the science tells us."
Fish and Wildlife officials have confirmed wolves from the Profanity Peak pack have killed or injured six cattle, and probably five others, since mid-July. And so far, about half of the members of the wolf pack have been killed.
