DULUTH, Minn. (NNCNOW.com) — Minnesota and Wisconsin organizations make up a handful of the 23 coming together to petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The animal protection and conservation groups want gray wolves to be reclassified as threatened, rather than endangered, which would ban hunting.
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The groups argue that if added to the threatened list, farmers would still be able to protect their livestock, and allow Fish and Wildlife to address wolf conflicts.
Gray wolves are currently protected as endangered throughout the lower 48 states, except in Minnesota where they are listed as threatened.
The Humane Society says wolf populations are still recovering from decades of persecution