protect the wolves

Appeals court backs wolves’ endangered status 

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protect the wolves

WOLF1021c4 — A gray wolf moves through forested country in winter. Credit: MacNeil Lyons, National Park Service

It is about time for good news from somewhere! We need to roll this into Washington State now!

Wolves in the Great Lakes region  won another reprieve Tuesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the animals must remain under federal Endangered Species Act protection.

The appellate court backed a district court decision that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service still hasn’t shown that it properly followed federal laws when it declared wolves partially “recovered” across just a portion of the animal’s historical range.

The federal agency in 2011 officially listed the wolf as recovered in part of its original territory — including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan — even though they remain virtually nonexistent in nearby areas where they once thrived. That official recovery handed wolf management back to states and tribes. But wolf supporters sued, saying the animals still hadn’t recovered across enough areas.

“Because the government failed to reasonably analyze or consider two significant aspects of the rule — we affirm the judgment of the district court vacating the 2011 Rule,” the appeals court said in its 54-page decision released Tuesday. “The agency has failed repeatedly over the last sixteen years to make a delisting decision that complies with” the federal Administrative Procedure Act, the court noted.

The U.S. Interior Department, which includes the Fish and Wildlife Service, has not said if it will appeal the ruling.

But the reprieve may be short-lived for wolves in the affected states.

Lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation that would delist wolves in Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, effectively bypassing the court’s ruling.

While those legislative efforts have failed in the past, it’s expected they might pass both the Republican-controlled House and Senate this year and be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

Until then, however, wolves will remain federally protected and off-limits to hunting or trapping in the four states. In Minnesota, where wolves are listed as threatened and not endangered, federal trappers can and do kill wolves near where livestock have been reported killed by the big predators.

“This decision re-affirms what we know: the wolf is a vulnerable and valuable species and needs federal protections for their long-term survival. The wolf is an important part of our state and nation’s ecology and culture,” said Maureen Hackett, president of Minnesota-based Howling For Wolves, in a statement. “We have known all along that wolf hunting recklessly endangers this valuable asset.”

Source: Appeals court backs wolves’ endangered status | Duluth News Tribune

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