Wildlife for All

Background and Agenda

Founded in 1993 as the Southwest Environmental Center, Wildlife for All’s mission is to hijack the successful system of wildlife management that has conserved and grown wildlife populations over the past century. Instead, Wildlife for All wants a system of wildlife management that promotes animal rights activism, in which dangerous predators are protected, in which the government is constantly being sued by activist groups, and in which sportsmen–who have funded much of these conservation programs–and other direct stakeholders are shoved aside. 

Traditionally, states manage wildlife conservation through regulations designed to encourage sustainable growth of species such as deer and elk. Sportsmen buy licenses for fishing and hunting, which fund wildlife agencies, and a federal tax on sporting goods like ammunition supplements the conservation work of state and federal agencies. Additionally, state and federal agencies manage dangerous predators, and can use tools including relocation or in some cases lethal methods to deal with predators that attack livestock.

This concept, known as the North American Model, has been hugely successful. It is estimated there were as few as 300,000 whitetail deer in the United States in 1900. Today there are 100 times more, thanks to habitat conservation and other efforts funded in large part by sportsmen, with sportsmen also directing these policies via state wildlife commissions. 

Radical animal rights activists, however, oppose hunting and fishing and want to see an end to them. Radical environmentalists oppose use of land for timber, ore, or other natural resources.

And so their strategy is to hijack state wildlife management policies. Their end goal is to reduce or end hunting and fishing by humans, which has been used to manage the growth of populations of deer and other species, and instead have more predators like wolves, bears, and coyotes prey on game animals instead. In their ideal world, huge swaths of the U.S. are “rewilded”–and humans stay out of it while nature runs its course. 

Staff and Leadership

Executive director Michelle Lute has a background in environmentalism. Lute was previously employed at Project Coyote, an anti-hunting group that focuses on restricting lethal management of coyotes, wolves, and other predators, and WildEarth Guardians (see below).

WFA founder Kevin Bixby and Lute are also involved with the Rewilding Institute. The Institute advocates for “continental-scale rewilding,” meaning land with no human activity, and the growth of predator populations. The Institute was founded by environmental extremist Dave Foreman, who founded Earth First!, a group that advocated sabotage and “monkeywrenching.”

Partnering Organizations

Wildlife for All’s partners include animal rights and environmental extremists, including:

• Humane World for Animals. One of the country’s largest animal rights organizations, run by a former PETA lawyer.
• Center for Biological Diversity. A radical environmental and animal rights group litigation group. CBD wants a “de-technologized” society and its executive director has spoken of “bring[ing] industrial civilization to its knees.”
• WildEarth Guardians. Similar to CBD, WildEarth Guardians is a radical environmental group that aggressively uses litigation. “WildEarth Guardians frequently uses the Endangered Species Act to tie-up any sort of land management activity in federal court for years on end,” writes the Montana States Legal Foundation. 
• Attorneys for Animals. A group that has advocated for legal “rights” for animals. 

Funding

In 2024, Wildlife for All received 24% of its contributions from four “donor-advised” funds. These funds act as middlemen to pass along money earmarked by an anonymous donor–essentially acting as dark money.

Historically, one of its top donors is the Wilburforce Foundation, based in Seattle. Wilburforce funds a number of radical environmental groups including Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club Foundation, and Earthjustice. Wilburforce has given more than $400,000 to Wildlife for All.