Rep. DeFazio today released the following statement in response to a report that the state of Oregon shot and killed two wolf pups on Sunday.

Statement

"The state of Oregon killed two 3-month-old wolf pups under the irrational premise that it would somehow lessen the food needs of the pack. Wolf pups are no threat to livestock," said Rep. DeFazio. "Nearly 80 years after a federal extermination campaign nearly wiped out the species, I will not sit by and allow the reimplementation of cruel, inhumane, and unscientific policies that degrade local ecosystems. I have called on Interior Secretary Haaland to expeditiously relist the Gray Wolf under the Endangered Species Act to prevent their likely extinction."

In July, Rep. DeFazio led a bipartisan group of 85 representatives in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland urging her to reconsider the decision to delist the Gray Wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Members emphasized the support of over 400 scientists in calling for federal protections for wolves, citing new state laws allowing for hunting practices that have resulted in the killing of hundreds of wolves in the span of a few months -- threatening the species' survival. The Members also stressed that decimating the wolf population would be detrimental to local ecosystems. Full text of the letter can be found here.

The Gray Wolf was de-listed by the Trump administration in the fall of 2020, at which time a bipartisan group of 68 Representatives urged then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to withdraw the proposal.

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