The animals have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since the 1970s, and their populations have grown in the Great Lakes region through natural expansion and recolonization from Canada the same is true for the Northern Rockies, though wolves were also reintroduced to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. Gray wolves, which once roamed most of North America, were widely hunted and intentionally exterminated by government officials by the mid-1900s, the last population of wolves in the Lower 48 was confined to Minnesota. Here’s what the decision means more broadly for wolves-and what’s next. Vanessa Kauffman, a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service, says the agency is reviewing the court decision, but didn’t offer further comment or respond to other questions. “Today’s decision conflicts with the intended purpose of the Act and removes critical management tools for wolves that pose a tremendous threat to farmers and ranchers, rural economies, and vital land and natural resource conservation,” says Kaitlynn Glover, with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, in a statement. Some livestock associations, hunter organizations, and state wildlife management authorities expressed opposition, saying wolves have recovered in parts of the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes. Not everybody is pleased with the ruling, however. “We’re overjoyed at the national decision but … at the same time it only highlights what is only a deteriorating situation in the Northern Rockies, where three states have gone all out to reduce restriction and introduce new ways to kill wolves,” says Ben Scrimshaw, an associate attorney for Earthjustice, an environmental group. That’s just the official tally-the likely death toll is higher. Well over 500 wolves have been killed in these states alone since last spring, out of a total population of around 2,600, according to government figures. Moreover, in 2021, Idaho and Montana enacted laws to remove most restrictions on wolf hunting. Those animals will continue to be managed by the states and not the federal government. This is most relevant for the Great Lakes states, including Wisconsin, which authorized a controversial wolf hunt in February 2021 that killed 218 wolves in under three days.īut owing to previous legislation that wasn’t at issue in the current lawsuit, the ruling does not apply to wolves in the Northern Rockies, which includes Idaho, Montana, most of Wyoming, as well as parts of eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and northern Utah. “It’s a good day for science, for wolves, for ecosystems, and for the people who value wolves,” says Adrian Treves, a wolf researcher and professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin.įor instance, the court decision means that most forms of wolf-killing, such as hunting or trapping, will be illegal outside the Northern Rockies. Conservationists, scientists, and even some hunters have cheered the decision, with something of an asterisk. The new ruling amounts to a thorough and sweeping rebuke of the wildlife agency’s policy on gray wolves, experts say. This delisting decision has been upheld-and defended in court-by the Biden Administration. That decision, which went into effect in October 2020 toward the end of the Trump Administration, removed federal protections for the animals, arguing they had recovered within substantial parts of their range. Fish and Wildlife Service acted improperly in delisting wolves. District Court judge in Oakland, California, ruled on February 10 that the U.S. Gray wolves in most of the United States are once again protected under the Endangered Species Act, according to a new legal decision.Ī U.S.
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