What is going on at the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and what NARN is doing about it.
Accusations of suppression of free speech and dead cougars in trees. What is going on at the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and what NARN is doing about it.
In April 2026, Jefferson County news The Leader published a three-part series on WDFW’s neglectful response to human-wildlife conflicts in its allowance of a posse of law enforcement officials and volunteers to hunt down and kill cougars with dogs. However, only WDFW is responsible for the management of cougar populations in the state. Furthermore, Washingtonians had voted to outlaw the hunting of cougars with dogs years before this posse, formed in response to Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer’s Dangerous Wildlife Directive, even came into being. The science clearly shows that killing cougars in response to perceived human conflict increases actual human-couger conflict. Check out the series for more information found here, here, and here, (WARNING: disturbing images).
This year, NARN and fellow wildlife advocates, working together in partnership through the Washington Wildlife Reform Coalition, were able to pass a bill that prevents volunteers partnered with law enforcement from using dogs to hunt animals and people. The provision, nestled inside a sweeping police reform bill, was in direct response to Sheriff Songer’s blatant disregard of sound wildlife science.
Unfortunately, Sheriff Songer is not the only person thumbing his nose up at sound science. WDFW, as chronicled by the three part series, is also ignoring critical cougar science that has come from inside its own department, and instead has chosen to undertake irresponsible killing of cougars throughout the state, all in the name of managing human “conflict” with cougars. In reality, cougar encounters are rare.
It’s not just science that is under threat at the department. A recent lawsuit filed against Dept. Director Kelly Susewind and Deputy Director Amy Windrope alleges a series of wrongdoings against WDFW Commissioner (commissioners set policy at WDFW) Lorna Smith and close NARN ally Washington Wildlife First, and includes a violation of the first amendment right to free speech. Director Susewind alleges that Commissioner Smith “colluded” with wildlife advocates in her efforts to enact pro-wildlife policy at the department; in reality, she did no more than what other commissioners, even anti-wildlife ones, had done in their communications with the public. These allegations are an attempt by the Director to stifle the public democratic process. In response, NARN testified at the most recent WDFW Commissioner meeting calling for the commission to take these threats to democracy seriously, as these retaliatory threats are an echo of what is happening on a larger scale in American politics. We should all be alarmed at this blatant assault to the public process in setting wildlife policy. If Director Susewind has his way, wildlife advocates like NARN and our allies on the coalition will be silenced, paving the way for harmful policies that could lead to the delisting of state endangered gray wolves and a significant increase in cougar killings.
We encourage our followers to make their voices heard at the WDFW meeting! Call for an end to cougar conflict killings and ask that the department follow sound science during the next WDFW Commission meeting. Public testimony will be on June 12th and 13th in the mornings.
Sign Up For NARN’s Testimony Workshop
Stay vigilant,
The NARN Team
