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| Life just got safer for Great Lakes region gray wolves. iStock.com |
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Here's a much-needed victory for the gray wolf: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will restore federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Great Lakes region (Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin).
This reprieve is the result of a settlement of a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by a coalition of wolf advocates led by The Humane Society of the United States. The coalition had also called for an immediate halt in the killing of wolves until the suit had been settled.
It's Not Over
This is the sixth time in the last five years that a federal government decision to strip wolves of Endangered Species Act protections has been stopped through legal action.
Unfortunately, the settlement won't prevent the Obama administration from making another attempt to remove wolves from the Endangered Species list and turn their fate over to state killing plans.
| Team Gray Wolf |
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The coalition of wolf advocates that sued to keep ESA protections for the Great Lakes gray wolves ranged from regional to international groups:
Born Free USA
The Center for Biological Diversity
Friends of Animals and Their Environment
Help Our Wolves Live
The Humane Society of the United States |
"We applaud the Obama administration for restoring federal protections for wolves in the Great Lakes," said Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation with The HSUS. "This agreement will give the administration a much-needed opportunity to reconsider the failed wolf-management policies of the past, and hopefully put to rest the states' reckless plans to start sport hunting and trapping imperiled wolves."
The Lawsuit
In the lawsuit, we challenged the federal government's decision to remove all Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region—a decision that would have allowed hostile state wildlife agencies to subject the wolves to widespread and indiscriminate killings at the hands of state agents, farmers, and trophy hunters.
Some of the state management plans allow wolf populations to be slaughtered by nearly 50 percent.
Deadly Management Plans
"Poaching and persecution remain severe threats to wolves in the upper Midwest and elsewhere," said Michael Robinson, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Wolf recovery has made tremendous strides, but with wolves occupying roughly five percent of their historic range, the job is not yet finished."
Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources intends to implement sport hunting and trapping seasons for wolves if they are ever successfully stripped of federal ESA protection. The management plans for Minnesota and Michigan also allow recreational hunting and trapping of wolves.
"The court's decision is great news for wolves and for the integrity of science in government decision-making," said Nicole Paquette, senior vice president of Born Free USA. "We hope that the Fish and Wildlife Service will honestly assess the scientific information it previously refused to review."
