Project Coyote celebrated a momentous victory when the Mendocino Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to terminate their long-standing relationship with the rogue U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program misnamed “Wildlife Services.” Mendocino County, like most western counties, contracted with the federal program to kill native wild animals largely at the behest of ranchers and farmers. This victory comes after nearly a decade of attempts to hold Wildlife Services accountable to the public that funds their lethal activities in the county. Next steps include Dr. Lute serving on a committee to inform the new nonlethal program funded with the county’s gas tax dollars.

In a similar effort, Project Coyote and our allies at Feather River Action have been working to help usher Plumas and Sierra counties into the era of modern wildlife conservation and stewardship by terminating their Wildlife Services contract. We have attended every Board of Supervisors meeting that considered the issue. They have approved their budget with the Wildlife Services contract but may include contract language to require non-lethal methods be used first. A step in the right direction! Stay tuned for more.

On March 26 and May 28, the California Fish and Game Commission held online workshops about Coyotes in the Urban Environment. The video from the first workshop is available here, and the video for the second, which features Dr. Lute as a member of the expert panel, is available here (see coverage in The Malibu Times).

On September 8, the Reno City Council voted 6 to 1 in favor of a resolution condemning wildlife killing contests and calling on the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners to ban contests. This resolution and the similar Clark County resolution from earlier this year are clear indications of the growing support for a regulatory ban on wildlife killing contests across the state, which the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners is considering and discussing at nearly every commission meeting this year. This victory picked up significant media coverage, including from the Associated Press.

Project Coyote is working to halt wolf hunting in Wisconsin with several advocacy and public engagement actions. On August 31, Project Coyote — along with co-plaintiffs Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf, and citizen Pat Clark — sued the state of Wisconsin over its reckless and politically motivated decision to authorize a quota of 300 wolves for the November 2021 wolf hunt, on top of the 218 known killed in the February hunt. The lawsuit alleges that the political appointees on the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board (Board) — including a hold-over member from the Scott Walker Administration who refuses to cede control of his seat — disregarded the recommendations from professional staff at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and chose to set an arbitrary and unsustainable kill level without regard for the health and well-being of the wolf population or sustainable ecosystems in which the wolves play an integral role. The lawsuit also alleges that the 2011 law that requires Wisconsin to hold an annual wolf hunt is unconstitutional. It asks the Dane County Circuit Court to overturn the law, reverse the quota set by the Board, and enjoin DNR from issuing licenses for the November hunt. We will keep you updated as developments occur. Read more here.

Project Coyote, along with ten allied environmental groups, submitted a robust 92-page comment elaborating on the many ways USDA Wildlife Services fails to adequately consider nonlethal methods in their self-proclaimed mission to promote human-wildlife coexistence in New Mexico. The rogue killing program released a draft Environmental Assessment for its carnivore-killing activities in New Mexico this August. Dr. Lute and Science Advisor Dr. Adrian Treves made significant contributions to this effort.

The Global Indigenous Council released “FAMILY,” a short film highlighting the deep cultural connection Indigenous Nations share with wolves and the dire threats to wolves. “FAMILY” calls on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to meet with Tribes and relist the wolf under the Endangered Species Act. This meeting occurred on September 28, where Tribes presented “The Wolf, A Treaty of Cultural and Environmental Survival” to Haaland. For centuries, Tribes successfully protected wolves as family. The world is facing a mass extinction and biodiversity crisis, and wolves need us. That’s why Project Coyote is standing with Tribes and highlighting their voices in the protection of wolves, notably with this recent opinion piece in Earth Island Journal from Dr Lute.

The documentary film, Wildlife Killing Contests, which exposes the dark underbelly of these brutal and senseless events, just received an Honorable Mention from the prestigious Jackson Wild Media Awards. The related Petition to End Wildlife Killing Contests on Federal Public Lands now has over 63,000 signatures and will buttress our nationwide legislative efforts to end these events. If you haven’t already, watch the film trailer here.

Project Coyote and the Michigan Technological University’s (MTU) College of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences also collaborated to present the multimedia art exhibition, The Spirit of the Hunt, featuring the creative talents of sculptors, photographers, poets, and painters including Project Coyote’s Artists for Wild Nature Monte Deignan and Sarah Killingsworth, renown photographer Jim Brandenburg, and local Michigan artists Joyce Koskenmaki and Ladislav Hanka. This exhibit is open to the public from August 28th through October 17th on the MTU campus in Houghton, MI. There was a reception with facilitated discussions by Project Coyote Science Advisor Dr. John Vucetich on Friday, September 3rd.