Help Washington's Wildlife - Demand Department Reform!

Help Washington's Wildlife - Demand Department Reform!

Started
December 19, 2021
Signatures: 1,978Next Goal: 2,500
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Why this petition matters

Started by Samantha Bruegger

Washington's fish and wildlife need your voice!

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is supposed to preserve our state's fish and wildlife in the public trust for all current and future generations. But it dismisses the values of more than 90% of Washingtonians, to serve those few that it views as its "customers"-- hunters, trappers, and anglers. Meanwhile, it kowtows to commercial special interests like logging and ranching, which demand that the state kill wildlife to protect their profits. 

WDFW management views our fish and wildlife merely as products to be “harvested,” allowing populations to to be exploited for commercial gain or just the fun of killing. It has: 

  • Declared that the ethics and humane values of most Washingtonians should play no role in regulating hunting practices.
  • Continually sought to “maximize” opportunities for trophy hunters and trappers to kill a wide variety of animals just for their heads, pelts, or the fun of killing—including bear, cougar, coyote, bobcat, beaver, mink, river otter, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep.
  • Authorized, and in most cases carried out, the execution of 36 state endangered gray wolves to appease the livestock industry.
  • Initiated plans to join the likes of Idaho in allowing wolf hunting, even though it reported only 132 wolves in the state last year.
  • Increased the trophy killing of bear and cougar, ignoring its own science showing these populations may be in danger. 
  • Ignored warnings from its own scientists with policies to appease powerful fishing lobbies, even as wild fish populations plummet and Southern Resident Killer Whales hover on the brink of extinction.
  • Worked with extreme hunting groups to illegally allow hunting with dogs, a practice Washington voters banned in 1995.
  • Silenced internal dissent from many fine scientists and enforcement officers in the Department through retaliation and bullying, while maintaining a "good ole boys" workplace rife with corruption and discrimination.
  • Promised extreme hunting groups to work to immediately bring back Washington's spring bear hunt, which the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to ban in November after a public outcry.

We need you to speak out for our fish and wildlife before it is too late. The public provides most of the funding for the Department through our general tax dollars, and it is supposed to serve all of us. It is time for the exploitation of our wildlife to stop, and for science and ethics to prevail. Please learn more at NotMyWDFW.org, and sign this petition to take back the management of our fish and wildlife. 

*By signing this petition, you demand that Governor Inslee appoint a Fish & Wildlife Commission that will prioritize WDFW reform, and ethically manage our state's fish and wildlife in accordance with the best available science. This petition will also be forwarded to the Fish and Wildlife Commission to demand the same. 

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Signatures: 1,978Next Goal: 2,500
Support now
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