Gary Kramer/USFWS
Wolves in Wyoming got a rare break Tuesday when a federal judge reinstated federal protections for the animal. The judge ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service erred in removing federal Endangered Species Act protections from wolves in favor of the state's wolf management plan in 2012. Represented by Earthjustice, Sierra Club and several partners including Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Center for Biological Diversity challenged the delisting based on deep flaws in Wyoming’s management plan.
In her ruling United States District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson noted that the Service was “arbitrary and capricious” in accepting Wyoming’s management plan based solely on the state’s intentions to manage for a viable wolf population, and that “the Service cannot rely solely on an unenforceable promise as a basis to delist a species.”
As a result of the decision, Endangered Species Act protections were reinstated immediately and wolves are now back under federal management in Wyoming. That’s where they belong, until Wyoming gets it right and develops an enforceable plan that will maintain a healthy population of wolves. Under the state's now-rejected plan Wyoming was required to maintain just 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves outside of Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation. Wolves could be killed by virtually any means anytime without a license in over eighty percent of the state - the so-called “predator zone.” In the rest of Wyoming around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, wolves could be hunted as “trophy game.” Since the loss of protections in 2012, over 200 wolves have been killed under state management.
But today, wolves are protected once again in Wyoming, and that is good news indeed. Wolves are a key part of the fabric that makes Greater Yellowstone such a special and unique place, and they deserved to be treated as the majestic creatures they are.
-- By Bonnie Rice, Our Wild America campaign, Montana