Scientists want wolves removed from endangered list

A group of leading wolf scientists are urging the western Great Lakes population of gray wolves be removed from protections of the Endangered Species Act. The 26 scientists, including Dave Mech of the University of Minnesota and Adrian Wydeven of the Timber Wolf Alliance, argue the species has successfully recovered in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and should be delisted. “It is in the best interests of gray wolf conservation and for the integrity of the Endangered Species Act for wolves to be delisted in the western Great Lakes states where biological recovery has occurred and where adequate regulatory mechanisms are in place to manage the species,” wrote the scientists in a letter delivered Wednesday to Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Department of Interior, and Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The scientists’ position supports past decisions by government agencies, which has moved three times to delist the wolf in the region, only to be overturned by lawsuits or legal challenges. The most recent action occurred in December when a federal district judge ruled the states were not providing adequate safeguards to the species. The scientists’ letter comes a week after Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) and John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) introduced Senate Bill 2281, legislation to remove the wolf in the Midwest and Wyoming from Endangered Species Act protections. The bill also would ban courts from overruling the Department of Interior on wolf delisting. The future of the legislation, and a companion bill in the House of Representatives, is uncertain. Wydeven said the scientists did not take a position on a specific bill but did support returning wolf management to the states…more