GR8T NEWS

Federal judge restores protections for U.S. gray wolves

A federal judge Thursday, restored protections to the American gray wolf population under the Endangered Species Act, meaning they will no longer be hunted. 

Photo by Rain Carnation/Pixabay

Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Thursday moved to once again protect American wolves under the Endangered Species Act, according to court records.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California made the ruling, overturning a 2020 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In November 2020, the Fish and Wildlife Service removed federal protections for the gray wolf population across most of the continental United States.

That delisting took effect in January 2021, leaving it up to individual states to manage their respective populations.

Some states quickly allowed open season on gray wolves, with Wisconsin culling its Canis lupus population by one-third during the initial hunting season.

A state judge temporarily blocked Wisconsin's plans to open a second hunt this past fall.

The Humane Society of the United States and a coalition of conservation organizations filed a lawsuit in January 2021 to have the animals' protections restored under the Endangered Species Act.

In the ruling, White found the government failed to assess threats to wolves across their entire range.

"The Service did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of these core populations. Instead, the Service avoids analyzing these wolves by concluding, with little explanation or analysis, that wolves outside of the core populations are not necessary to the recovery of the species," reads the judge's ruling.

"The Court concludes the Service failed to adequately consider the threats to wolves outside of the core populations in the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains in delisting the entire species."

The Northern Rockies population of wolves is the lone unprotected wolf population in the United States.

Regional subspecies of the gray wolf were declared endangered by the federal government between 1966 and 1976.

"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," Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Human Society of the United States, said in a statement on Thursday.

"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," Block said.