Nine wolves died. Yearlings. Pups. A family that had held its territory and bloodline for nearly half a century — gone in a cluster of preventable incidents. A lineage erased. A story cut short. And every agency responsible tried to bury the truth.

Through tears, through illness, through loneliness, through nights where the work stretched past 3 a.m., we kept going. We kept reading every document, every policy, every report. We kept showing up for tribal partners, volunteers, and donors who believed in the truth. We kept pushing because wolves cannot speak for themselves — and because democracy cannot survive without accountability, transparency, and science.

For months, agencies pushed a narrative that “dangerous wolves” in the Town of Flambeau were a human health and safety threat. USDA Wildlife Services wrote the reports, Wisconsin DNR accepted them, the Town Board repeated them, and federal agencies looked the other way.

We read every report. What we found was not danger — it was negligence. Every incident was caused by human behavior, especially bear baiting, not wolves.

Agencies can think whatever they want about wolves — endangered, threatened, delisted, hunted, “managed.” But their personal opinions don’t matter when they are working in the public trust.

They are legally obligated to follow the 2023 Wolf Plan and to treat wolves as if they are endangered when regulatory mechanisms fail. And clearly, the mechanisms failed — because nine wolves just died.

Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance stepped in because no one else would. We forced accountability. We gave the tribes the documentation they needed. We exposed failures that every agency hoped would stay buried.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has already begun changing its policy because of the evidence we uncovered. We did that — together.

Your donation is their defense. Your support is what allows us to keep fighting for the Flambeau Nine and every wolf family that follows.

With determination,
Melissa
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance