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Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
Is He Telling the Truth About the Pack — Or Just Protecting His Own?
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Friend,
Tom Tiffany has been in the news again — pushing legislation that would strip wolves of federal protection and, remarkably, try to ban the courts from ever reviewing it. Before you believe the story he’s telling about wolves, we think you deserve the facts he’s not telling you.
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What the Data Actually Shows
✦ 78% of Americans support continued Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves.*
✦ 75% of rural residents in wolf-range states — including Wisconsin — support continued protection.*
✦ 79% of self-identified farmers and ranchers support continued protection.*
✦ Even among self-identified conservatives, supporters outnumber opponents more than 3-to-1. Among liberals, better than 10-to-1. This isn’t a partisan issue — it’s a manufactured one.*
*Vucetich & Bruskotter, Michigan Technological University & The Ohio State University, 2025 national survey (n=1,079).
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Wisconsin Is Succeeding
Wisconsin is coexisting with wolves — quietly, successfully, and at a scale the “farmer crisis” narrative leaves out. Out of more than 58,200 farms statewide, only about 40 have ever experienced chronic wolf depredation. That’s roughly the same odds as flipping a coin and getting heads ten times in a row.
And where losses do happen, the fix already exists: DNR-supported fencing has been documented as 100% effective at preventing further depredation.
So who’s telling you this is a crisis? The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation — which founded and remains the sponsoring affiliate of Rural Mutual Insurance Company, now a top-50 P&C insurer in the country. This isn’t a farmer problem. It’s an insurance industry talking point wearing a flannel shirt.
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See Something? Say Something.
Seen a news story that treats this as “two equal sides” — as if farmers and wolves are locked in constant conflict? They’re not. Most Wisconsin farmers coexist with wolves without incident, and the data backs that up. If you catch coverage getting this wrong, send it our way. We’ll make sure the reporter — and the record — gets the real numbers.
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Wisconsin Is Succeeding
Wisconsin is coexisting with wolves beautifully.
Out of more than 58,200 farms statewide, only about 40 have experienced chronic wolf-related livestock losses. That’s roughly the same odds as flipping a coin and getting heads ten times in a row.
There is no big farmer problem. DNR-supported fencing programs are 100% effective at preventing depredation where they’re used — and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, the loudest voice claiming crisis, is the founding sponsor of Rural Mutual, one of the top 50 property and casualty insurers in the country. It has a financial stake in this story.
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The Man Behind the Microphone
For years, Tiffany ran a wilderness cruise business on the Willow Flowage — marketing the very wolf-populated wild country he now claims threatens Wisconsin families as a premium tourist draw. He knows wolves aren’t the danger his fundraising emails say they are.
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Now, as a member of Congress, he’s co-sponsoring H.R. 845 — a bill that would strip Endangered Species Act protection from wolves nationwide and explicitly bar any court from reviewing that decision. It already passed the House in December. It’s sitting in the Senate right now.
Blocking judicial review isn’t conservation policy. It’s an admission that the policy can’t survive a courtroom.
And he’s had help. Hunter Nation — the same dark-money group that poured $1.8 million into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race — gave Tiffany its “Great White Buffalo Award” for his work stripping wolf protections. Ask yourself who conservation policy is actually serving when the reward comes from a hunting-industry lobbying group, not the people living with the results.
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“Necedah National Wildlife Refuge — the southernmost wolf habitat in Wisconsin and nesting ground for the endangered whooping crane — is now swept into the largest hunting expansion in refuge history. Land set aside for wildlife is being handed back to the same forces pushing to eradicate Wisconsin’s wolves.”
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The Land Grab Behind the Curtain
The federal government has opened 92 million acres — 95% of America’s wildlife refuges — to hunting, including predator species. Land that was set aside as refuge is now open to the same industry pushing to eradicate Wisconsin’s wolves.
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⚡ 1-for-1 Match — This Weekend Only ⚡
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Every Dollar You Give
Becomes Two.
A generous anonymous donor is matching every gift, dollar-for-dollar, through Sunday night. We do this work without a single paid staff member — your gift right now goes twice as far as it ever will again.
DOUBLE MY DONATION →
speakforwildlife.org/donate
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On The Air Yesterday
Yesterday, GLWA’s Melissa Smith was the special guest on 8 O’Clock Buzz with Tony Castañeda on WORT 89.9FM Madison — talking wolves, hounds, and who’s really driving Wisconsin conservation policy.
Listen to the archive →
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In the fight,
Melissa Smith
Executive Director, Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance | 117 Ardmore Drive, Madison, WI 53713 | speakforwildlife.org
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