In a victory for the gray wolves of the northern Rockies, a federal judge in Montana on July 18th reinstated federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves, thus preventing Idaho, Montana and Wyoming from implementing fall wolf hunts.
The court ruled that conservation groups are likely to succeed on the majority of their claims that removal of wolves from the federal list of endangered species was unlawful. The decision notes that, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had stated that genetic exchange between wolf populations in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming was necessary for the wolf's survival, Yellowstone's wolves remain genetically isolated. Further, hunting and state predator-control laws that took effect upon delisting would likely "eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur."
The court also ruled that the conservation groups are likely to succeed on their argument that Wyoming law, which allows unregulated wolf killing in nearly 90 percent of the state and fails to commit to maintaining sufficient wolf numbers, is inadequate. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had long maintained that these aspects of Wyoming law precluded delisting. The court found that "[t]he agency flip-flopped without explanation" when it approved Wyoming's wolf management scheme with "the same deficiencies" in 2007.
Since wolves were delisted on March 28, states have assumed management authority for wolves, leading to the killing of at least 106 wolves. All three states had plans to allow hunts this fall. Those hunts would have permitted more than 500 wolves to be killed.
Friday's ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice on behalf of 12 conservation groups.
Earthjustice filed suit on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands Project, Western Watersheds Project and Wildlands Project.
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