Ranchers at the White House. (Screen capture from video posted to X.)

Slouched at his desk in front of a group of ranchers (or at least people in expensive cowboy hats, silver and turquoise jewelry, Lucchese boots and cowboy chic couture resembling that worn by the cast of “Yellowstone”) Trump signed an executive order demanding that the Interior Department delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act and urged the ranchers to start gunning down wolves.

Trump: “Anybody have a problem with the Mexican gray wolf?

Rancher: “They’re a big problem.”

[There are only an estimated 319 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in the US. Meanwhile, there are more than 2 million heads of cattle within the wolf’s natural range of New Mexico and Arizona.]

Trump: “Not a great idea, right? Although they are beautiful looking. But you don’t think they are beautiful, do you? And what do they do, rip the herd apart?”

Rancher: “They will kill your livestock, they will kill your dogs, your horses.”

[Horses and dogs are not part of a wolf’s diet.]

Sec. of Agriculture, and former Cotton Bowl Queen, Brooke Rollins: “But sir, the problem is, because they are on the endangered species list, they can’t shoot them. They have to sit and watch them destroy the herd.”

Trump: “You can shoot them as of today.”

Rollins: “Well, [Interior] Secretary Burgum has to do a little magic, but yes.”

[No, they can’t. Mexican and Gray Wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act.]

Trump: “How do you like the idea that I’m letting you do that? And that will totally solve the problem, right?”

[It won’t do anything to solve the problem of high beef prices.]

Rancher: “Well, uh, I guess.”

Trump: “But you’ll be able to protect your herd. And right now you can’t do anything. It’s illegal, right?”

[Government killers at Wildlife Services are already authorized to kill “problem” wolves.]

Ranchers: “We’ve seen it take hundreds of family ranches and it’s just gone.”

[The wolves haven’t taken one family ranch. Banks and private equity have taken many, but not because of wolf predation.]

Trump: “And they would be able to protect if they had the right to shoot them?”

Rancher: “The state of Washington has fought us tooth and nail. Won’t allow your team to come in, won’t allow us to do anything.”

[At least 25 wolves were killed in the state of Washington in 2025.]

Trump: “Okay, you’re allowed to go and take care.”

The rancher shakes his head, knowing the law better than the president.

Trump: “No, no. You’re allowed to. We have no choice.”

Rancher: “If you say so, sir.”

Ranchers are richly compensated for every suspected wolf kill, even if the livestock perished because of their own mismanagement and its corpse was nibbled on by a wolf, coyote or bear. Ranchers can receive up to five times the market value for calves and three times the market value for mature cattle. In Colorado, ranchers are paid as much as $15,000 per wolf-killed cow. In other words, ranchers are making a killing from wolves killing their livestock. Most beef in the US is “grown” in feedlots, while most ranches are hobby or lifestyle operations that enjoy lucrative tax breaks and valuable water rights. 

Not a lot of wolves prowling the largest cattle feed lot in America, Blackshirt Feeders in Nebraska, a Canadian-owned company that keeps 200,000 cows on site at any given time…

+ How much is the life of an endangered wolf worth? $139.50, according to the state of Colorado, which is the token amount of a fine they levied against a slob coyote hunter who illegally killed the radio-collared, breeding-age female.