Science & Environment| Science & Environment

Jeffrey White, U.S. District Court Judge, Oakland, California stated that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to show that wolf populations could survive in the Midwest and parts of the West without protection under Endangered Species Act.

Wildlife advocates argued that state-sponsored hunting could reverse the gray wolf’s recovery over the past few decades.

Federal officials claimed that the wolves are resilient enough to bounce back despite their sharp declines in numbers due to intensive hunting.

The future of a species that has seen its recovery from near-extinction was celebrated as a conservation success story is at stake. The recovery has also been met with bitter criticism from farmers and hunters who were angered at the wolf attacks on livestock and big game herds. They claim that protections are no longer necessary.

Melissa Schwartz, spokesperson at the Interior Department, said that agency was still reviewing the decision. She declined to comment on the matter until the agency had had a chance absorb it.

Wildlife advocacy groups stated that the judge’s order would immediately stop hunting in the Great Lakes Region. This region was where Wisconsin officials were criticised after state-licensed hunters exceeded the state’s quotas last season.

John Horning, an environmentalist with WildEarth Guardians, stated that the Great Lakes region’s wolves have been granted a stay on execution.

Wisconsin law requires that the Department of Natural Resources holds a hunting season between November-February whenever the wolf has not been listed as endangered.

A Dane County judge halted the winter hunt this fall, stating that the DNR must first update their 15-year-old management plan. He also ruled that rules must be adopted for setting quotas as well as issuing licenses.

Six Native American tribes have filed a federal lawsuit against the state accusing it of violating treaty rights and threatening an animal they consider sacred.

The DNR will likely issue a draft plan this month, which will guide management over the next ten years.

According to the DNR, there are 1,195 wolves in the state at April 2020. However, the agency has not conducted a population survey since hunters killed at most 218 wolves during a court-ordered hunt that was held in February after federal protections were removed.

Officials from wildlife said that the impact on the population could not be predicted because it occurred during the breeding season.

The ruling does not directly impact wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, or portions of several adjoining states that are still under state jurisdiction.

The U.S. Since September, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been independently reviewing whether protections should be reinstated for predators in the northern Rockies. This is after Republican lawmakers passed laws last summer that would have made it easier to kill wolves.

Although wolves once inhabited most of the United States, they were eradicated in most places by government-sponsored poisoning campaigns and trapping campaigns in the 1930s.

The western Great Lakes region’s remaining population has increased to approximately 4,400 wolves in Michigan (Minnesota) and Wisconsin (Wisconsin). Six states in the Northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest and Washington are home to more than 2,000 wolves.

Yet, wolves are not found in the majority of their historical range. Wildlife advocates argue that they need continued protections to ensure their expansion in California, Colorado and Oregon, as well as other states.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have tried to reduce or eliminate federal wolf protections that were first established in 1974, starting with former President George W. Bush.

Chris Hubbuch, State Journal reporter contributed to this article.

The ruling does not directly impact wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, or portions of several adjoining states that are still under state jurisdiction.