Federal appeals court judges on Friday agreed to remove protections for the gray wolf in Wyoming, in a major upset for environmentalists who sought to keep the wolf under federal protections.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision reverses a 2014 ruling by a lower court that blocked a federal agency’s finding that the wolf was no longer a threatened species in Wyoming.
In 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that the wolf population had recovered enough that federal protections were no longer required.
Wyoming put in place a management plan for the wolf population, including renewed hunting of the canids, and the delisting of the gray wolf was under way.
Environmental groups then challenged the states’ authority to oversee the wolf population, winning their lawsuit in a D.C. District Court ruling that quashed the state’s management of the wolf population.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. John Barrasso, who hails from Wyoming, praised Friday’s decision as a step in the right direction for the management of a once-federally protected animal species.
“I am pleased that the court agrees that the wolf has recovered enough to be removed from the endangered species list,” Barrasso said. “As a result of this ruling, the state’s wolves will be under the control of Wyoming, not Washington.”
