Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced the final rule removing federal protections for the iconic and ecologically vital gray wolf across the lower 48 states. Born Free USA strongly disagrees with the decision to delist gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and return wolf management to the states.
This final decision came after a long line of attacks by the Trump administration to slash protections for the environment, wildlife, and the Endangered Species Act, the strongest backstop we have to preventing extinction. The FWS proposed the rule last year, and despite outraged Americans who submitted 1.8 million comments opposing the delisting, today the disregarded the American public. With this decision the agency is also ignoring scientific peer reviews — commissioned by FWS itself — that found the agency’s proposal contained numerous errors with inadequate scientific support and that it came to a predetermined conclusion.
“We are disappointed in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s final determination to remove federal protections for the gray wolf in the lower 48 states,” said Angela Grimes, CEO of Born Free USA. “With current gray wolf habitats spanning states that are hostile towards the species, gray wolves still teeter on the verge of recovery. Delisting this American icon appeases a small percentage of the American public and will surely damage the viability of future populations.”
With this final determination stripping ESA protections for the gray wolf, wolf management authority will now be given to the states, several of which are openly hostile towards the keystone species and their continued recovery. In fact, many states have already demonstrated their eagerness to institute a wolf-hunting season. In Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming — states where wolves have already lost federal protections — trophy hunters, trappers, and others have killed nearly 3,500 wolves since 2011. Just last December, it was reported that Wyoming was allowing wolves to be killed year-round by any method throughout the majority of the state, regardless of how cruel or unsportsmanlike, including the barbaric practice of chasing and mowing wolves down with snowmobiles.
Wolves are the wild ancestors of the domestic dogs we know and love today, and are only starting to recover in the United States after human persecution nearly wiped them out. However, their slowly growing numbers have been used as a reason to prematurely remove them from federal protection. Wolves have yet to recover in the vast majority of their historic habitat. Born Free USA staunchly disagrees with the FWS’s decision to delist the gray wolf. Learn more on how to help advocate for animals at bornfreeusa.org.
Born Free USA joined the Endangered Species Coalition in a joint statement about the wolf delisting. Click here to read it.
