As of March, Washington’s list of endangered, threatened, and sensitive species holds a total of 47 animals. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is tasked with not only updating and maintaining the list but also protecting the mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, and insects under threat of extinction (aka on the list). There are also an additional 70 listed as “candidate species,” meaning they aren’t currently in as much danger as their counterparts but could soon find themselves in a similar place if actionable steps aren’t taken.
WDFW is the state’s highest authority charged with overseeing the recovery, protection, and well-being of its native plants and animals.
However, that doesn’t mean that the federal government doesn’t help out, too. In essence, WDFW focuses specifically on its state-specific list, which is different from the federal list of endangered and threatened species — it’s really not as complicated as it sounds.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted in 1973 and created federal protections for the animals that ended up on its list. Individual states and their governments have since developed and maintained their own protections within their boundaries. So, not all species on a state’s list are endangered or threatened nationally, but any on the federal endangered or threatened list that exists in a state will also be on that state’s list.
With that small caveat out of the way, keep reading to learn about three of Washington’s currently endangered animal species: the blue whale, gray wolf, and woodland caribou.
Blue Whale
Photo Courtesy Paul Ensor
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is endangered on Washington’s list and under the ESA. What’s the good news? The approximately 1,900 remaining blue whales living near the U.S. West Coast, referred to as the Eastern North Pacific stock, aren’t exactly hard to spot.
The largest animal species ever recorded to live on the planet, these baleen whales can reach upwards of 100 feet in length and weigh an average of 441,000 pounds. That’s the same length as an NBA court from baseline to baseline and the same weight as roughly 34 African bush elephants.
Blue whales are significantly more pelagic than others in their species, meaning they prefer to roam in deeper waters away from the coasts.
They do occasionally come close to the shores, and, considering their lifespans are estimated between 80 and 90 years, that can add up to a lot of coastal swim-bys over time. In Washington, the whales are typically spotted near the state’s outer coast.
The massive mammals find themselves in population decline (not that they would know) due to shipping-related issues ranging from collisions to net entanglements, debris, human-generated marine sounds, and climate change.
To stave off these threats to the animal, WDFW has designated blue whales as a priority species under the agency’s Priority Habitats and Species (PHS) Program. It is meant to better transfer conservation-related information and resources from scientists and other wildlife experts to local governments, community members, and others — a step in the right direction for the survival of the baleen whales.
The program isn’t the only effort in play. A nonprofit called Cascadia Research has been conducting long-term research on the species since 1986. It uses photo-identification to better understand population numbers, monitoring human-caused threats like ship strikes, and assessing behavior change over time to figure out the best ways to get blue whales off all these lists.
Gray Wolf
Photo Courtesy D. Gordon E. Robertson
The gray wolf (Canis lupus) — the timber wolf or grey wolf for those across the pond — is the largest living wild canine and sits on the Washington and federal endangered species lists. Gray wolves are also partially responsible for all the chihuahuas, poodles, and other dogs humans have as pets, being the wild ancestor of all domesticated dogs.
However, wolves should not, in any circumstance, be confused with dogs. Timberwolves can stretch up to six feet, with females weighing 70 to 80 pounds and males between 95 and 100. Approximately twice the size of coyotes, these packs of wolves used to roam much of Washington in the 19th century.
When Westward settlers arrived, they quickly set about trapping, poisoning, and hunting the animal to almost statewide extinction by the 1930s. While many species have ended up on endangered lists due partly to climate change, gray wolves differ from the pack. Humans have been the most dangerous threat to the long-term survival of these wolves, with hunting, illegal breeding, and vehicle collisions leading the way.
Although wolves are great hunters (apex predators), they’re actually habitat and diet generalists, making them extremely adaptable to most environments and biomes.
The species obviously survived its near-extinction in the 1930s, but it wasn’t until 2008 that the state saw another fully documented wolf breeding since then. That instance was a sign of things to come — Washington’s population of gray wolves has increased at an average rate of 28% yearly to date.
The state’s most recent survey, the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2023 Annual Report, cited at least 260 wolves currently residing within it. The population still has a long way to go before reaching its historic levels, but 260 is still a lot better than almost zero.
Woodland Caribou
Photo Courtesy Steve Forrest
The woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) isn’t as easy to designate as the blue whale or gray wolf. Simply put, many woodland caribou subpopulations are spread out across the U.S. and Canada. However, the caribou in these regions don’t all share the same status on their state and federal lists.
In Washington’s case, it was home to a subpopulation of approximately 46 southern mountain caribou called the South Selkirk in 2009. The caribou, the only species in the deer family featuring females that grow antlers, had been added to the state’s endangered animal list years prior for an extremely unique reason: predation.
Yes, most herbivores like caribou have natural predators, so predation itself isn’t that noteworthy. However, this wasn’t naturally occurring predation. Washington has a lot of forests and trees, which make timber harvesting one of the state’s biggest industries. When large forests, a natural habitat for South Selkirk caribou, are cut down for timber, they turn into ideal habitats for deer, elk, and moose.
Regrettably, the influx of all these new herbivores also brought a lot of those animals’ natural predators: wolves, bears, and cougars.
So, in a twisted turn of fate, timber harvesting ultimately led to the predation and, eventually, extirpation of the caribou in Washington.
In 2019, the last known caribou of the South Selkirk subpopulation in Washington was captured and transported to an enclosure in British Columbia, Canada. The species isn’t extinct; it’s just not found in Washington anymore.
By most accounts, it seems like the blue whales and gray wolves will not share the same misfortune. Ending on an example of an extirpated animal might seem pessimistic, but it’s not meant to be. It highlights that not all species are magically going to be saved and that their survival isn’t just a given — it’s a fight, and every species needs all the help they can get.
