Thank you for making the Wolf Awareness Week such a success!
Thank you for making such a successful Wolf Awareness Week! We had an excellent week and it ended with incredible news! Here’s a recap of all the great week with all the links in one place if you missed a day.
We were able to spread the word and educate how important Wisconsin wolves are with interesting facts about them. Did you already know that wolves play tug-of war or that a pack is usually only four wolves that work together to survive? What about why wolves howl? You do after this week! If you haven’t yet, really test your knowledge with the quiz we sent around for Take a Moment Monday!
After knowing how interesting and special wolves were, the obvious question is- so what’s going on with wolves in Wisconsin and what can we do? Luckily, the Wildlife Team was prepared with the answer!
At the ‘State of the Packs live update’ Wildlife Team members Marcy Kearns, Jodi Habush Sinykin, Amy Mueller, and Diane Cain offered an update about what’s happening with wolf protection and suggested everyone write to Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and ask her to relist the gray wolf. If you missed it, view the update here:
Following the ask to write to Sec. Haaland, we wanted to demonstrate how beautiful wolves were in a different way! People made beautiful drawings and colored in coloring sheets and send them to Sec Haaland and asked her to relist wolves.
The rest of the week, we spread the word! Thanking Governor Evers for his positive message and thanking all the Indigenous leaders that have been leading the effort to protect wolves for centuries, including highlighting the pending lawsuit by six Ojibwe Tribes and highlighting the panel discussion after viewing the Indigenous film Family, a few weeks ago.
Finally, we Took it to the Streets on Saturday! A few Wildlife Team members tabled at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and talked to attendees about the need to protect wolves. We had great conversations and met some great people! Across the country, Wildlife Team members were also at a rally in Washington D.C. calling for the relisting of wolves! Diane Cain spoke about where things are in Wisconsin and the need for people on the ground to get involved!
On Friday, we got the best news of the week! A Dane County Circuit Court Judge announced on Friday that he would be issuing an injunction on the wolf hunt, meaning the DNR can not move forward with the hunt that would begin on November 6.
While a lot of things could happen, this injunction buys us time to do more work to gain long-term protection for Wisconsin wolves. This includes moving forward with our litigation to get gray wolves relisted, to put pressure on the Biden Administration to protect the gray wolf, and ensuring Wisconsin’s updated wolf management plan is based on science and prioritizes wolf conservation.
We still have a lot of work ahead, but everyone should take a moment to celebrate the great news! If you want to learn how you can help with our efforts to protect Wisconsin’s wolves, check out our volunteer opportunities here.