Howling For Wolves is 501c3 nonprofit organization. For a short summary of goals and activities see Our Purpose below. If you are an organization considering a grant to Howling For Wolves, contact us to find our 501c3 federal EIN tax ID.

Howling For Wolves Action Fund is a 501c4 organization focusing on advocating for wolves with lawmakers and government entities to protect wolves and focusing in Minnesota. See HFW in Media and Events to learn about our past and ongoing initiatives.

Our Purpose

Howling For Wolves is a Minnesota-based wolf advocacy organization that formed in 2012 to educate the public about the wild wolf to foster tolerance and to ensure the wolf's long-term survival.  Howling For Wolves opposes recreational wolf hunting and trapping and all wildlife snaring.  We currently support the continuation of federal protections for the wolf by the Endangered Species Act.

Howling For Wolves Action Fund advocates lawmakers at the state and federal levels of American government to stop trophy wolf hunting and to put policies in place that support effective, science-based nonlethal conflict prevention plans that promote human and gray wolf coexistence into the future.

Founder's Background

HFW President and Founder Maureen Hackett, MD

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Dr. Maureen Hackett is a physician and professor who specializes in Psychiatry with a focus on forensics (legal issues). Dr. Hackett founded the advocacy group Howling For Wolves in 2012 to educate the public and policy makers about the benefits of a viable wolf population within the forest ecosystem.

She has worked for the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services, and taught at William Mitchell College of Law, Mayo Medical School, and University of Minnesota medical students. In 2003, Dr. Hackett developed and successfully lobbied the MN legislature to pass a law that removed tobacco from Minnesota's state hospital grounds. Dr. Hackett's published law review on this topic has served other states in their work to remove tobacco from their state-operated hospitals for patients with mental illness and addictions.

Dr. Hackett's life-long interest in wildlife and environmental problems have shaped much of her work within and outside of medicine including political advocacy and volunteering for people and wildlife. Minnesota's wildlife - especially the Northwoods - has captured her heart.

When Minnesota's wolf hunting and trapping season was rushed through politically in 2012, Dr. Hackett found the process was captured by special interest groups and the public input was virtually ignored. She founded the non-profit organization Howling For Wolves in March of 2012 with a purpose of  protecting Minnesota wolves and giving the majority of Minnesotans a voice in this issue.  Dr. Hackett lives with her husband and daughter in the Twin Cities area and she continues to practice and teach at a major medical center in Minneapolis.

Professional and Volunteer Highlights:

• U.S. Air Force veteran. Served in Texas and in England for seven years active duty. Completed her commission at rank of Major; Honorably discharged with Meritorious Service Medal
• Volunteered in Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and 2006. During the Gulf oil spill of 2010, she served as physician in Fort Jackson, Louisiana bird rehab center and for the Louisiana Audubon Society.
• Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, Department of Psychiatry
• Adjunct Professor, William Mitchell College of Law
• Faculty, Hennepin-Regions Psychiatry Residency Program
• Instructor in Psychiatry, Mayo Medical School
• Developed and successfully assisted in passing a MN law to remove all tobacco from MN state hospital grounds beginning in 2004.
• Member of the Jane Goodall Institute's "Peaks" Society
• Chicago Marathon, first place in age category 19-21.