On October 27, we—along with our co-plaintiffs at WildEarth Guardians—filed a lawsuit in Montana State Court alleging that the state’s extreme anti-wolf hunting and trapping policies violate the Montana Constitution, Montana Administrative Procedure Act (MAPA), Public Trust Doctrine, and several federal laws meant to protect wildlife on federally-managed lands. As explained in our complaint, the State of Montana, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MFWP), and the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission are violating the law by relying on stale and insufficient scientific data in order to authorize the killing of roughly 40% of the state’s wolf population this coming winter. Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that the state is flouting its responsibility to manage wildlife for the benefit of the entire public and is overstepping its management authority by allowing wolf slaughter on the boundaries of federal lands. Despite the requirement that Montana’s 2002 wolf plan be reviewed every five years, the state has never updated it, engaged in a formal review, or assessed the rapid development of conservation science and carnivore ecology over the past two decades. The lawsuit comes in the middle of Montana’s 2022/23 wolf hunting season, with wolf trapping, a season during which roughly half of all killing occurs, set to start on November 28. Stay tuned as this lawsuit proceeds!

This year, we launched our Protecting America’s Wolves advocacy campaign. Since then, we’ve been equipping our supporters with weekly targeted actions aimed at protecting our nation’s wolves with a particular focus on the wolves of the Northern Rockies, who remain federally unprotected. But our advocacy efforts reach as far as wolves’ range, including in Colorado, where wolves are set to be reintroduced by 2023. We introduced an alternate wolf restoration plan with WildEarth Guardians and in partnership with 14 other wildlife organizations, provided to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to offer a science-based alternative to the plan currently being developed. Additionally, USFWS announced their intent to prepare an environmental impact statement and publish proposed regulations for the 10(j) management rule, which will manage the reintroduced Colorado wolves as a nonessential experimental population (allowing for more liberalized killing for livestock conflicts) despite their current status as federally endangered. We urged supporters to advocate for USFWS to draft a 10(j) management rule guided by the best available science and submitted our own comments, along with public comment opportunities for Michigan, Minnesota and Montana. Lastly, our wolf advocacy reached into the Northeast, where we organized a sign-on letter to call on the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to take concrete steps to protect wolves returning to the state after a hunting incident in which a wolf was killed in December of 2021.

We continued our campaign to end the trophy hunting of California black bears and push for ethical and science-based management of the state’s bear population. We mobilized our supporters to attend the September California Fish and Game Wildlife Resources Committee meeting to testify in opposition to trophy hunting and in support of science-based management and ethical coexistence. Black bears continue to face extreme hardship from wildfires, drought, vehicle accidents and from loss of habitat and their natural food sources. And yet the state wild agency and commission continue to allow unethical black bear trophy hunting and are even considering a petition to increase black bear hunting statewide– despite not having a black bear management plan in place. We will continue to keep you updated on how to advocate for our state’s beloved bears.

On August 15th, Project Coyote and The Rewilding Institute petitioned the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to prohibit contests through agency rulemaking, which has been done by five other states. Along with our petition, we provided the IDNR with information on known WKC events in Illinois for the past several years, along with spatial information and an initial spatial and ecological analysis (including state maps) of impacts. IDNR should ban WKCs given the cruelty and disrespect these contests display towards wildlife, the latest scientific evidence on indiscriminate killing’s negative ecological impacts and the lack of evidence for such contests serving any conservation or management purpose. We have increased outreach through social media and released a state campaign website, and are now focused on driving public comments, working to earn media coverage and building a growing coalition of local organizations to support our efforts.

Our Coyote Friendly Communities program forged new partnerships and opportunities to spread and foster peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife in new communities across the country. We’ve partnered with the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA) to provide animal control officers (ACOs) with the knowledge and tools needed to foster peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife. Project Coyote and NACA released co-branded, science-based resources — including fact sheets, brochures, tip cards, and signage — that inform and educate on human-wildlife coexistence. These co-branded materials are available in both English and Spanish on the new partnership webpage. In July, we kicked off our partnership by hosting a webinar for ACOs where we introduced these resources and how to effectively use them to foster peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife.

Our Massachusetts representative, John Maguranis shared his story in a Notes from the Field Blog on how he worked with local animal control officers to heroically rescue four coyote pups. And in Marin County, California, Project Coyote’s ranching with wildlife coordinator Keli Hendricks participated in an educational workshop on how to coexist with coyotes in your community in partnership with San Francisco Animal Care & Control, Marin Humane and Marin County Parks.

Two fabulous artists have joined our impressive lineup of Artists for Wild Nature:  

• • Shaunna Costicov-McCombe is an artist and photographer who dedicates a lot of her time and work to non-profit causes. She’s currently designing a new wolf logo for our Protect America’s Wolves campaign.
  • Alexandra Saunders is a Bay Area based wildlife conservation artist creating wildlife portraits working in oils, colored pencils and pastels. In her own words, “I have worn many hats in my life but the one constant is my love for animals and being surrounded by the wonder of nature and earth’s beauty. My art is central to my way of expressing my deep and abiding reverence and love for our Planet & all living beings.”

Longtime Artist for Wild Nature Virginia Romero’s work featuring coyotes and other maligned and misunderstood wild animals was featured in an article in the Las Cruces Bulletin: “Much of Romero’s art reflects her personal connection to nature and wildlife. She has a particular affinity for coyotes, who frequently show up in her artwork. Having looked one in the eye, Romero said she recognizes their right to co-exist… ‘I’m painting the primal connection we share with everything on the planet. Animals are reflecting that color essence of the universe.’”