"Five wildlife protection groups today filed legal action challenging the removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region.

The nonprofit organizations – the Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Biological Diversity, Help Our Wolves Live, Friends of Animals and Their Environment, and Born Free USA – have asked the federal District Court here to issue an immediate injunction to stop the killing of wolves pending resolution of the case.

In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed an initiative begun by the Bush administration to remove federal protections for this population of gray wolves.

Instead, state management and hunting will be allowed, and Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan plan to allow hundreds of wolves to be killed.

This is the second time in little more than a year that the federal government has removed Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region."

Environment News Service had the story June 15, 2009. [2]