Progress! Federal Protections Restored to Gray Wolves

Feb 10

The “monumental victory” will see gray wolves across most of the continental United States regain federal protections, with campaigners hoping that wolves in the Northern Rockies will be next.

Gray wolves across most of the continental United States will once again be protected by the Endangered Species Act following a court ruling on Thursday that overturned a Trump administration decision to delist the animals.

During the court ruling, Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. federal district court for the Northern District of California, faulted the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for a number of legal and scientific errors, including its failure to assess threats to wolves across their entire range.

Whilst campaigners have welcomed the move, the new ruling does not extend to gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain states of Idaho and Montana where the animals have been hunted relentlessly in recent months after aggressive wolf-killing laws were passed, wiping our entire packs and slaughtering pups.

"Today's ruling restoring much-needed federal protections means that wolves will have a chance to fully recover and carry out their important ecological and cultural roles across the country," said Bonnie Rice, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club. "Instead of prematurely removing protections for wolves, the Fish and Wildlife Service should once and for all commit to their full recovery, including immediately reinstating protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies."

Progress in the Fight Against “State-Sponsored Bloodbaths”

“Today is a monumental victory for wolves who will now be protected from state-sponsored bloodbaths. After having yet another wolf delisting overturned in federal court, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should finally learn its lesson,” said Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). “Instead of continuing to devise convoluted excuses to strip these beloved animals of legal protections, the agency must develop a plan for meaningful recovery across the species’ range and ensure that states will not decimate their wolf populations.”

In a late-term decision last year, the Trump administration declared that the gray wolf was no longer an endangered species, leaving the once near-extinct animal without any legal protection. The new law applied to the lower 48 states, where there were around 6,000 wolves remaining.

Wildlife groups condemned the administration’s move and mounted a legal challenge against the decision. Conservation groups weren’t alone in their criticism. Over one hundred scientists and scholars combined their voices in an open letter to the Trump administration, urging it to protect wolves.

The delisting went into effect in January 2021, leaving the wolves at the mercy of state management. Wolf hunting increased dramatically in some states, including Wisconsin. During the spring 2021 hunting season, state-licensed hunters aided by packs of hounds slaughtered more than 215 wolves in less than 60 hours, despite the statewide limit set of 119 animals. The state was forced to intervene and end the hunting season prematurely after the wolf death count reached more than 82% of the state’s kill quota within just three days of the proposed week-long hunt.

“It was a race to kill these animals in the most cruel ways,” said Block in response to the killings.

Wisconsin’s plans to open a second hunt this fall were temporarily blocked by a state judge, but future hunting seasons there and elsewhere were all but guaranteed. With Endangered Species Act protections back in place for wolves, trophy hunting is once again prohibited, says HSUS.

“Although we celebrate this win, my thoughts keep returning to the hundreds of wolves who suffered and died under state management,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I hope this ruling finally convinces the Fish and Wildlife Service to focus on recovering wolves, not prematurely removing their life-saving protections.”

The FWS is currently evaluating a request to re-list wolves in the Northern Rockies too.