Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/gray-wolf-protections-restored/

As concern over the recovery of gray wolves mounts, a judge has restored federal protections for the species. The protections, which had been removed just before former President Donald Trump left office, impact wolves in 44 states.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to show that wolf populations could be sustained in the Midwest and portions of the West without protection under the Endangered Species Act. White added that the USFWS did not give enough consideration to threats to wolves outside those areas.

The Trump administration announced that it was removing protections for the gray wolf throughout most of the U.S. just before the November 2020 election. At the time, federal wildlife officials argued that populations were strong and stable in the Northern Rockies and the Western Great Lakes region. They said these populations were ensuring the species’ long-term survival and recovery wasn’t dependent upon the species expansion to its entire historical habitat. The decision prompted wildlife groups to sue.

The ruling does not impact the states that are home to the Northern Rockies population. Montana and Idaho have had control of species management since 2011 when the gray wolves there were delisted. Wyoming gained control in 2017. It also does not apply to New Mexico, which had never lost protections.

This does impact gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes region, however, including Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Hunters and livestock producers in Wisconsin had lobbied for protections to be removed ahead of the USFWS decision. In April 2020, the state’s Department of Natural Resources had estimated that there were 1,195 wolves in the state. When protections were lifted, at least 218 wolves were killed during a hunting season held in February 2021.

Meanwhile, Michigan is home to roughly 700 gray wolves, but the state had not set an official hunting season before the protections were reinstated.

In Minnesota, the only state in the lower 48 that has had a consistent viable gray wolf population, wildlife officials estimated there were about 2,700 gray wolves in 2019. The state did not hold a wolf hunting season in 2021.

Following Judge White’s ruling, Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said the agency was reviewing the decision. Attorneys for President Joe Biden’s administration have defended the prior administration’s decision to remove protections.

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog