Court Overrules Federal Government on Wolf ESA Decision

Good news for wolves in the Great Lakes area.

TRAVERSE CITY - State officials say they're not pleased with a federal court's ruling overturning the government's decision to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list for the Great Lakes region.

The ruling today affects wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. It's in response to a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups, including The Humane Society of the United States. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says the 2007 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was not supported by the federal Endangered Species Act.

Wolves & Eagles No Longer Endangered in Michigan?

That's what Michigan's State Department of Natural Resources says.

Michigan's removal of the bald eagle and gray wolf from the list will be the most significant change in species protection the state has seen in years. Since 1976, Michigan's endangered and threatened species listing has been modified only six times--a fact [DNR's former endangered species coordinator, Todd} Hogrefe attributed to the tremendous amount of time and effort it takes DNR staff to decide which animals to include and which to leave out.

The delisting would not open the door for hunters to kill wolves, the state's DNR notes. Killing would be permitted only if a wolf posed a direct threat to humans.

State environmental groups are showing "cautious optimism."

Gray Wolf Returns to Federal Protection

This is good news.

Judge Donald Molloy of Montana ruled Friday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it removed wolves in the Northern Rockies Region from the endangered species list in March.

He agreed with arguments made by environmental and animal rights groups that wolf populations in Yellowstone National Park do not yet interbreed with wolves in Idaho and western Montana to an extent that ensures genetic diversity. He also ruled the agency approved Wyoming’s state wolf management plan last year despite previously saying the basic tenants of that plan that allow wolves to be killed without regulation in 90 percent of the state, was inadequate to protect wolves. Lastly, Molloy ruled the groups proved that wolves were likely to be harmed by public hunting seasons planned in each state this fall.

Gray Wolves May Be Hunted in US

Now that gray wolves are no longer in danger of being wiped out, we can get back to killing them! Hoo-ahh!

Good news for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains: They no longer need federal protection. The bad news for the animals? Plans are already in the works to hunt them.

Federal Endangered Species Act protection of the wolves was lifted Friday in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, giving those states management of the estimated 1,500 gray wolves in the region.

Even though environmentalists plan to sue the federal government next month to restore wolf protections, hunts are already being scheduled by state wildlife agencies to reduce the wolf population to between 900 and 1,250.