The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would review the status of the American gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act after former President Donald Trump’s administration removed the animal from the endangered list.
The Department of the Interior’s review comes in the wake of two petitions sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking for the animal to be relisted.
The petitions “present substantial, credible information indicating that a listing action may be warranted,” the FWS said.
ENDANGERED SPECIES RECOVERY REQUIRES FLEXIBILITY, NOT STRICT REGULATIONS
The petition’s authors noted a threat to the “geographical populations” of the species and cited gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains as an example.
“The Service finds the petitioners present substantial information that potential increases in human-caused mortality may pose a threat to the gray wolf in the western U.S.,” the FWS said. “The Service also finds that new regulatory mechanisms in Idaho and Montana may be inadequate to address this threat. Therefore, the Service finds that gray wolves in the western U.S. may warrant listing.”
The Trump administration’s decision to delist gray wolves last year was controversial.
A senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, Andrea Zaccardi, said the species deserves protection.
“Anti-wolf policies in Idaho and Montana could wipe out wolves and erase decades of wolf recovery,” she said. “We’re glad that federal officials have started a review, but wolves are under the gun now so they need protection right away.”
Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, the House Natural Resources Committee’s top Republican, blasted the Interior Department’s decision to review the wolf’s status.
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“Forcing agencies to conduct meaningless reviews to examine recovered species is not accomplishing any long-term goals when state wildlife experts are already managing and caring for species local to their communities,” Westerman said.
