BILL REQ. #:  S-3986.1 

Read first time 01/15/08.   Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE SECRETARIES OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The federal government first declared the gray wolf, Canis lupus, endangered in 1974 and it remains protected under the federal endangered species act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.; and
     WHEREAS, The reestablishment of gray wolf populations in neighboring states will lead to the continued and increased dispersal of gray wolves into Washington; and
     WHEREAS, Gray wolves prey primarily on medium and large mammals, and livestock, poultry, and pet kills are inevitable as gray wolves increasingly move into Washington; and
     WHEREAS, The federal endangered species act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531, et seq., generally prohibits landowners from harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, or capturing an endangered species in order to protect their livestock from gray wolf depredation; and
     WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is the agency with primary responsibility for managing the gray wolf and other endangered species, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is the primary investigating agency for wolf depredation reports in Washington;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress, the United States Department of the Interior, and the United States Department of Agriculture, prioritize and provide increased resources for landowner assistance and timely federal investigation of wolf depredation reports in Washington.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Secretaries of the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.