"Republican-backed wolf-culling campaigns may wind up triggering federal protections again."
"The Fish and Wildlife Service will have to reconsider whether gray wolves in the western United States merit Endangered Species Act protections in light of Republican-backed efforts to aggressively cull the animals in the Northern Rockies, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Tuesday’s ruling, penned by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, hands a win to wildlife groups that petitioned the FWS in 2021 to reconsider whether state laws that liberalized wolf hunting and trapping in Montana and Idaho threatened gray wolves enough to force the federal government to protect them once again.
The ruling “puts these states on notice,” George Nickas, the executive director of Wilderness Watch, told Public Domain. “Their hatred for wolves is ultimately going to lead to re-listing.”
A spokesperson for FWS said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. The agency may appeal the ruling."
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