Coalition to kill more wolves in Washington State is forming

Former candidate for Washington public lands commissioner  Steve McLaughin is forming a coalition that may include Washington ranchers, county Farm Bureaus and cattle organizations.

Last year he lost to Hilary Franz  who is now Commissioner of Public Lands. He was named one of 12 of the most anti-environment state-level candidates from around the country, the “Dirty Dozen”. “It’s bad enough that Steve McLaughlin takes money from the very industry he would regulate in office,” said Shannon Murphy, President of Washington Conservation Voters. “But his ties to anti-public lands and anti-government groups should downright disqualify him from running for statewide office. Any Washington voter who believes in access to the outdoors and wants clean air and water for their communities and kids should worry about Steve McLaughlin.”

• McLaughlin signed onto a letter proclaiming his full support for two convicted arsonists that set fire to public lands and sparked the takeover of the Malheur Oregon Wildlife Refuge earlier this year.
• He belonged to the anti-public lands, anti-government group Coalition of Western States. While he’s recently tried to distance himself from this affiliation, McLaughlin continues to enlist leaders of COWS for support in his campaign for Commissioner.
• Southern Poverty Law Center named McLaughlin on their list of “elected officials and candidates who embrace Extremist ‘Patriot’ Agenda on Federal Lands”.
• McLaughlin has taken thousands of dollars from timber interests; this is the same industry that the Commissioner of Public Lands would regulate.
• He openly questions human caused climate change and has expressed interest in reopening permits for a coal export terminal in Whatcom County, WA

His biggest contributors were timber companies, Farm Bureau  and the wolf hating ranchers such as Diamond M Ranch. He says because the population of wolves is higher than previous years. They want even more control to kill our wolves. Diamond M has the most blood on their hands. Entire packs have been killed including wolf pups! There are less than 100 wolves in the entire state! We don’t even have the for numbers for 2017 yet! Many of us know of all the slaughter that took place after many ranchers were not taking proper measures to control their cows for yet another year. They all ignore the science and refuse to believe all the research conducted by Dr. Wielgus. They say an increase in wolves? It has been proven once again that killing wolves does not work!

McLaughlin is drafting four bills for the state Senate and House, with plans to introduce them during the legislative session which begins in January. The bills call for:

• Removing wolves from the state endangered species list.

• Authorizing counties to pass wolf control ordinances in the interest of public safety.

• Access to the state’s wolf location data.

Haven’t they done enough damage? Many of our animals are in grave danger with all the toxic legislation we have seen this year to delist wolves and dismantle the Endangered Species Act. We must fight for the voiceless that have been persecuted and killed for far too long. Many have stated that they would love to see wolves completely eradicated. What will be left for our children, grandchildren and future generations? Will we just let that happen?

It is more important than ever to support all the work and research that Protect the Wolves has done to be able to protect sacred and endangered species. We must also demand elected officials oppose all legislation to delist wolves, dismantle the ESA or allow special interest groups to destroy more public lands, including many of our National Monuments.