Wisconsin Ag Connection - Efforts Underway to Remove Wolves From 'Protected' Status Again

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

Efforts Underway to Remove Wolves From 'Protected' Status Again
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 12/24/2008

Nearly three months after a federal judge ruled that wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan need to be protected, a federal agency still feels the wild animals should be delisted. In September, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list--even though the three states previously were told they could allow them to be hunted. But now the Fish and Wildlife Service is considering other options, such as publishing a new delisting rule that would address concerns raised in the lawsuit and allow the agency to remove the wolf from 'protected' status.

Officials from the agency say the deadline for appealing the federal court decision has passed. Other legal options are now being considered.

As Wisconsin Ag Connection reported in September, the case to protect the wolves was presented to the federal court by the Humane Society of the United States. They have been opposed to changing the wolves' status from the beginning and have been fighting to get more protection for the animals. The Wildlife Service told Wisconsin's natural resources department in early 2007 that they could allow gray wolves to be hunted.

Meanwhile, a survey taken this year showed there were 2,921 wolves in Minnesota, and at least 537 in Wisconsin and 520 in Michigan.

Judge Friedman said at the time of his decision that when an animal goes into 'endangered status' within the nation's borders, certain regions within the nation cannot drop the status.