US Federal court restores protection for gray wolves
In November 2020, the US National Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) enacted a rule removing protections contained in the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (“ESA”) for the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) by removing the species from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (“Rule”). The rule was overturned by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in the judgment of Defenders of Wildlife v U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dated 10 February 2022, reinstating federal protection in 44 of the lower 48 states.
Hunted, trapped and poisoned for decades, the population of gray wolves in the United States dwindled to approximately 1,000 by 1967. The population experienced a rebound after it was listed under the ESA in 1978. The enactment of the Rule removed gray wolves from protections under the ESA, which included, inter alia, unlawful “taking” of listed species, defined as to “harass, harm, [or] hunt…”. The New York Times reports that the Rule caused a sharp increase in wolf hunting in some states, with Wisconsin ending its hunting season early in 2021, “after more than 200 wolves were killed in less than 60 hours [over a period of four days], far exceeding the state’s quota of 119”.
Judge White found that in making the Rule, the Service “failed to adequately consider the threats to wolves outside of the core populations in the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains in delisting the entire species”. Furthermore, “the Service’s analysis relied on two core wolf populations to delist wolves nationally and failed to provide a reasonable interpretation of the ‘significant portion of its range’ standard”.
The ruling has been met with conflicting reactions. Wildlife advocates and are environmental groups have coined the decision a “huge win”, but noted that gray wolves remain threated in states to which the judgment does not apply, including: Montana and Idaho (delisted by Congress in 2011); and Wyoming (delisted by the Service in 2017). On the other hand, the judgment was criticsed by pro-hunting groups. President and chief executive of Hunter Nation commented that they were “disappointed that an activist judge from California decided to tell farmers, ranchers, and anyone who supports a balanced ecosystem with common-sense predator management that he knows better than them”.
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