| The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), along with their hodge-podge posse of animal extremist groups, including the Humane Society of the United States and the Sierra Club, is once again filing a lawsuit to derail sound scientific wildlife management of wolves. The trio sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for the service’s denial of CBD’s petition to relist gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) of the Western United States under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The groups, who “wish to see viable gray wolf populations in suitable habitat in all significant portions of the wolf’s historic range in the lower-48 states,” petitioned the service for relisting under the ESA in May 2021. The petition claims, in part, that state management of gray wolves, including well-regulated hunting and trapping, is an “immediate threat” to wolf populations that will result in “harmful exploitation and needless persecution.”
The service, following the best available science, as required by the ESA and requested by CBD, denied the relisting petition in February. The service concluded that gray wolves in the NRM are not a distinct population segment that could be listed under the ESA and that wolves in the broader Western United States, while qualifying as a distinct population, do not warrant listing under the ESA. The service supported the decision by noting that “now and into the foreseeable future, wolves are likely to retain a healthy level of abundance” throughout the Western United States.
CBD et al., in typical fashion, has chosen to waste taxpayer dollars and government resources to line their pockets while pushing their radical ideology by filing suit. The lawsuit alleges that the service failed to rely on the best available science when denying their petition, but population estimates of wolves throughout the West illustrate that FWS’ decision was sound.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation supports the denial of the petition for gray wolf relisting in the NRM. Based on this recent lawsuit, we are reviewing our legal options to support FWS’ refusal and the retention of state management of NRM wolves.
SAF also supports the delisting of gray wolves elsewhere. Specifically, we filed our own petitions with the service last summer, requesting the service recognize and delist a Western Great Lakes Distinct Population (WGL DPS) and exercise specific management options on remnant wolf populations existing outside of the WGL DPS and the NRM. Findings on these petitions remain pending. |
