U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Turning Its Back On Wolf Delisting

According to a report filed by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the federal government is asking that their present plan to remove the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act be withdrawn.

Earlier this year the USFWS announced it would delist the gray wolf in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Immediately wolf-lover groups filed suit to stop the delisting and this spring Judge Donald Molloy issued a temporary injunction to stop the delisting. This effectively stopped any and all plans for wolf hunts and the opportunity for states to take over the management of the wolves.

It was thought by some, including myself, that because of the ridiculous ruling of Judge Molloy, the feds would appeal his decision but they seemed to be dragging their feet. With today’s announcement it appears that not only are the feds not going to appeal, they are going to withdraw their request to delist the wolf, at least for now.

This of course has set off a firestorm of rumors as people are trying to perceive what the feds are up to. Two rumors that cannot be substantiated are that one, the Department of Interior will leave the problem up to the next administration, which seems a bit irresponsible to me, or two, that the Department of Interior will submit and new plan for delisting that would not include the state of Wyoming.

The reasoning behind this is that in Judge Molloy’s ruling he took issue with Wyoming’s wolf management plan, even though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had approved it.

I have some requests sent out seeking confirmation or information on this and will fill you in as soon as I get anything.

Tom Remington