WildEarth Guardians

A Force for Nature

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Wild animal protection – defending wolves, coyotes, bears, and other native carnivores

Defend Native Carnivores

A grizzly bear foraging with her cubs in a lush meadow outside Yellowstone. The howling of gray wolves carrying across a darkened valley. A Canada lynx padding silently through deep powder in search of a snowshoe hare. Native carnivores are icons of our Western landscape, and they drive the health and stability of Western ecosystems.

Nevertheless, native carnivores continue to face misguided persecution at the hands (and guns) of humans. Many state wildlife agencies hold little regard for the best available science and ignore most people’s values, which strongly favor native carnivore conservation.

We watchdog federal and Western state agencies to ensure their policies and practices allow healthy populations of native carnivores to thrive. We believe there are ways to share our Western home with carnivores that do not include trapping or shooting them, and we aim to cultivate coexistence with these incredible creatures.

Western Native Carnivores in Peril

Find out more about the West’s native carnivores, the threats they face, and how we work to defend them.

Black Bear

Suburban and urban growth is encroaching into black bear habitat and increasing the chance of conflict with humans, with deadly consequences for the bears.

Grizzly Bear

Federal and state wildlife agencies are doing their utmost to remove grizzlies’ Endangered Species Act protections and open trophy hunting seasons, while bears remain threatened by habitat loss, conflict, reductions in key food sources and climate change.

Gray Wolf

The gray wolf is a victim of an ongoing war waged by livestock producers, the federal wildlife killing program, Wildlife Services, and state agencies unwilling to follow the best available science.

Mexican Gray Wolf

Despite a federal “recovery” program, populations of Mexican gray wolves (lobos) are barely hanging on. Federal protections are too weak and the livestock industry is a major threat.

Canada Lynx

Emblem of the West’s high mountain regions, lynx are threatened by trapping, logging, roads, motorized recreation, and the federal government’s efforts to remove key protections.

 

Wolverine

This “badass” carnivore can scale 9,000-plus-foot mountain peaks, but climate change, trapping and habitat loss could stop it in its tracks. We held the feds accountable for failing to provide Endangered Species Act protections.

Mountain Lion

Historically persecuted due to humans’ exaggerated fears, these big cats are still sport hunters’ and trappers’ targets.

Coyote

Barbaric killing contests across the West aim to slaughter as many of these “song dogs” as possible. Coyotes are key to ecosystem health, keeping rodent populations in check.