Nine wolves. Four pups, three yearlings, two adults. Wisconsin's DNR ordered them killed; federal Wildlife Services carried it out. 🐺 Before the traps, before the kill order — this is what that pack might have looked like: hunting, raising pups, moving through water and forests, playing their part in the ecosystem. That's what nine wolves were, before Wisconsin decided they were a threat. The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), in the Ojibwe ceded territory, says they were never consulted. No warning before the decision, no threat data, no criteria, just told afterward that the entire pack was already dead. In their own words: "Simply handing us the remains of our relatives after killing them does not constitute meaningful consultation." DNR says the wolves had lost their fear of people after repeated verified conflicts, and that relocation wasn't possible, no open habitat to send them to. DNR Secretary Karen Hyun apologized for the communication failure afterward. But GLIFWC's Jenny Van Sickle says federal rules required relocation to actually be attempted, not just considered — DNR says it ruled relocation out as infeasible. Whether that satisfies the law is the real dispute. Four of the nine were pups. This wasn't nine wolves removed one at a time — it was a family, killed together. These weren't Wisconsin's wolves to kill. They were someone's family. An apology doesn't bring back nine wolves. And it doesn't answer the real question: what do we actually owe the animals, and the people with treaty rights to them, that we share this land with? Tell your senators to vote no — link in first reply. #DemsUnited 🧵