Wolves at risk in US: Biden administration looks to remove Endangered Species Act protections, allowing the animals to be hunted
“While wolves are protected, they do very well, and when they lose protections, that recovery backslides,” warns a leading conservation group.
Wolves in the US continue to face an uncertain future as the Biden administration has moved to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves.
On September 13, the Biden administration asked the 9th US District Court of Appeals to lift the remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves, reports AP News.
If the request is granted, gray wolves and their protection status would be governed under individual state laws. Without the protections of the Endangered Species Act, this could allow hunters to slaughter the animals in the Great Lakes region.
The announcement is the latest in a long line of political back-and-forth regarding wolves and how big - or small - their population size and roaming areas should be.
The Trump administration previously delisted gray wolves from the Endangered Species list back in 2020. This led to masses of animals being hunted across Western states including Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and with particularly cruel methods. In Wisconsin, a wolf hunt with hunters and their dogs slaughtered 218 wolves - representing 20 percent of their local population - in just three days.
However, two years later a federal judge overturned the delisting and restored protection to gray wolves after conservation groups successfully sued the government's decision. The ruling did not apply to wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, as wolves in that region lost their protection in a separate prior case.
“While wolves are protected, they do very well, and when they lose protections, that recovery backslides,” Collette Adkins of the Center for Biological Diversity told AP News. “We won for good reason at the district court.”
The debate surrounding wolves has often focussed on the interests of ranchers and the livestock industry, who blame wolves for the predation of livestock.
But conservationists argue that wolves, who have historically roamed the US, are an integral part of the ecosystem. Wildlife groups suggest that the livestock industry should implement better protection measures for their animals, rather than persecute wolves. They also point out that wolves, on the most part, reside on public lands and so the private interests of ranchers and the livestock industry should not come before the interests of wildlife and the public.
Livestock industry must do more to help wolf coexistence
It was also announced this month that Colorado’s entire Copper Creek Wolf Pack had been captured by wildlife officials after a number of livestock losses in the area.
The male wolf father (known as 2309-OR) was sadly announced dead a few days after the capture. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will release the remaining family of wolves at a later date.
The relocation and tragic death of the male wolf highlights how the wolf recovery projects are at the mercy of the livestock industry.
“Despite Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Colorado Department of Agriculture efforts, the livestock owner whose livestock were killed refused timely implementation of science-backed coexistence tools, including a range rider, fladry, diversionary feeding, and nonlethal injurious hazing permit” conservation group Western Watersheds Project explained.
The group also noted that the agency acknowledged that the wolves may have been lured to the livestock owner’s property when the rancher refused to bury their carcasses in an open pit.
“Tools for nonlethal coexistence have been provided cost-free to ranchers along the way, and wolves should not have to pay the price for producers’ refusal to implement them”, added Delaney Rudy, Colorado Director of Western Watersheds Project.
Take action for wolves in the US now. Please join Species Unite in urging President Biden to offer all gray wolves in the country the protections of the Endangered Species Act. Send a letter here.
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