Good morning,
Locally, we’re still keeping the wolves protected. You know what a wolf population collapse means — for wolves, for cranes, for all wildlife when politicians override science.
🎬 WATCH: What They Don’t Want You to See
It’s that time again.
Unfortunately, we have to reach out to you for emergency support. We keep working furiously — endless pressure, endlessly applied — and so far we’ve kept politics away from wildlife policy.
THE IDENTICAL LIE: Why You Should Reject BOTH Wolf and Crane Hunts
They tell you wolves have “recovered.” They tell you sandhill cranes have “recovered.”
And then they use that success story to justify slaughter.
But here’s what they don’t tell you: The arguments for hunting wolves and cranes are identical — and identically wrong. The science doesn’t support either. The logic doesn’t hold for either. And the only thing either hunt accomplishes is satisfying the bloodlust of people who want to kill for sport.
Politicians don’t make good wildlife managers.
Politicians don’t make good scientists.
LET’S NOT FORGET: THE SAME PEOPLE PUSHING THESE HUNTS WANT CRUELTY
The same politicians and lobbyists pushing for wolf and crane hunts are the ones who want a population cap of 350 wolves — which would require mass slaughter of over 800 wolves from the current population.
And they want to do it using the most barbaric methods imaginable.
🐺 THE CRUELTY THEY WANT FOR WOLVES:
- Pulling wolf pups from their dens and bludgeoning them to death
- Setting wolves on fire
- Letting packs of dogs attack and tear wolves apart — running them to exhaustion for hours before the kill
- Trapping wolves in steel-jaw leghold traps where they suffer for days, often chewing off their own limbs
- Snaring wolves so they slowly strangle or die of dehydration
This isn’t “wildlife management.” This is state-sanctioned torture.
🦢 THE CRUELTY THEY WANT FOR CRANES:
Crane hunting is just as brutal — they just don’t talk about it:
- Crippling rates up to 40% — meaning for every crane killed cleanly, nearly half are wounded and left to suffer and die slowly
- At least 15% of shot cranes are never retrieved — they fly away with birdshot in their bodies to die agonizing deaths later
- Hunters are warned: “Don’t use dogs on wounded cranes” — because wounded cranes will stab dogs through the eyes with their beaks and claw at their stomachs
- Wounded cranes attack hunters trying to grab them — using their long sharp beaks and three claws on each foot
- Cranes mate for life — kill one and you leave its partner to search for a mate that will never return
- Crane colts stay with their parents through fall and winter — a fall hunt orphans young birds still learning survival skills
The “ribeye in the sky” they joke about? It’s a bird that mates for life, grieves its dead, and takes 8 years to successfully raise young.
SIDE BY SIDE: The Same Lie, The Same Cruelty
| 🐺 WOLVES | 🦢 CRANES |
|---|---|
| “They cause livestock damage” | “They cause crop damage” |
| Damage happens year-round | Damage happens in spring |
| Hunt proposed for fall | Hunt proposed for fall |
| Fall hunt = wrong season | Fall hunt = wrong season |
| Non-lethal works: fladry, flagging, guard dogs | Non-lethal works: Avipel seed treatment |
| Science says: hunting doesn’t reduce conflict | Science says: hunting won’t reduce crop damage |
| Still have pups in fall | Still have colts in fall |
| Want to kill pups in dens | Want to orphan colts mid-migration |
| Methods: bludgeoning, burning, dogs, traps, snares | Methods: shotguns with 40% crippling rate |
| Self-regulating population | Slow-breeding, territorial species |
| 82% oppose | 82% oppose |
THE TIMING PROBLEM: Killing in Fall Won’t Stop Problems in Spring
WOLVES: Livestock conflicts happen throughout the grazing season. A fall hunt kills wolves AFTER the season is largely over. A brand-new study published in Science Advances (August 2025) found that wolf hunting has almost no effect on livestock depredation. You’d have to kill roughly 14 wolves to save a single cow.
CRANES: Crop damage happens in spring when cranes feed on germinating corn seeds. By fall, the corn is harvested. Both the Wisconsin DNR and the International Crane Foundation confirm: a fall hunting season would not reduce spring crop damage. Even the study committee’s own experts testified that hunting “may actually increase damage.”
In both cases, the hunt happens in the WRONG SEASON to address the stated problem. Because it was never about solving problems. It’s about killing for killing’s sake.
NON-LETHAL WORKS — THEY JUST DON’T WANT TO USE IT
FOR WOLVES:
- Fladry (flagging on fences): Studies show wolves won’t cross it — one study found wolves leaped over barbed wire “like it wasn’t even there” but refused to cross fladry
- Turbo-fladry (electrified flagging): Effective for 60-90 days
- Livestock guardian dogs: Great Pyrenees, Akbash, Anatolian Shepherds
- Range riders: Human presence deters wolves
A peer-reviewed study found that fladry and electric fencing reduced livestock damage by 50-100% — far more effective than lethal control.
FOR CRANES:
- Avipel seed treatment: A natural compound that makes seeds taste bad to cranes. Cranes learn to avoid treated seed after just 1-2 tastes. Endorsed by the International Crane Foundation.
- Cost: Only about 10% of what damage would cost without it
- Already proven: Over 76,000 acres treated in Wisconsin
- Bonus: Cranes stay in fields but eat insects and pests instead — actually helping farmers
Non-lethal solutions exist. They’re proven. They’re cost-effective. The kill lobby just doesn’t WANT to use them because they want to kill.
THE 350 MYTH: A Number Invented to Justify Mass Slaughter
Republicans want to roll Wisconsin’s wolf population to 350 or less.
The 350 number was NEVER a population cap. It was a threshold set in 1999 — when only 200 wolves existed — simply to indicate when wolves could be considered for delisting. Even the original authors of that plan say the number is now “outdated” and “makes no sense.”
Wolves don’t need a population cap because they regulate themselves through territorial behavior, social breeding rules, and natural dispersal. In Yellowstone, where hunting is prohibited, the wolf population has naturally stabilized for over a decade.
So why do they want 350?
Because an arbitrary low number gives them justification for mass slaughter — like February 2021, when 218 wolves were killed in just 72 hours.
THE SCIENCE IS UNANIMOUS: RECREATIONAL HUNTING DOESN’T WORK
ON WOLVES: A 2025 study in Science Advances: “Small or no effects suggest that wolf hunting is not an efficient approach to reducing negative human-wolf interactions.”
ON CRANES: The Wisconsin DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and International Crane Foundation all agree: a fall hunting season will not reduce spring crop damage.
WHO BENEFITS FROM THESE HUNTS?
NOT farmers. Non-lethal methods work better.
NOT the species. Both have slow reproduction and can’t sustain heavy harvest.
NOT Wisconsin. Bird watchers contribute $250 million — seven times more than hunters.
NOT hunters. Hunter numbers are collapsing: down 100,000 in two decades.
NO ONE SHOULD ACCEPT A CRANE HUNT. NO ONE SHOULD ACCEPT A WOLF HUNT.
They are identical in their logic — and identical in their failure.
- Same false promise
- Same scientific reality: It won’t work
- Same timing failure
- Same non-lethal alternatives ignored
- Same family destruction
- Same public opposition: 82% against
- Same cruelty
- Same beneficiary: Bloodlust
If you oppose the wolf hunt, you must oppose the crane hunt.
If you oppose the crane hunt, you must oppose the wolf hunt.
They are the same lie, told twice, to justify the same cruelty.
WE’RE THE ONES FIGHTING BOTH
Your support has funded:
- Federal court injunctions stopping wolf hunts
- Ongoing legal challenges against Wisconsin’s wolf management plan
- Testimony against the crane hunt bill
- Public education exposing the kill lobby’s corruption
- The petition to list wolves under Wisconsin’s Endangered Species Act
🐺 DONATE $50 NOW TO STOP CRUELTY TO WILDLIFE 🦢
In solidarity,
Melissa Smith
Executive Director
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
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