Groups eye lawsuit after wolf petition is rejected
Feb. 8—A coalition of animal rights and environmental groups said Wednesday they plan to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for rejecting their petition to list wolves in the northern Rockies and other parts of the West under the Endangered Species Act.
Last week, the agency said listing the animals was not warranted. The groups contend liberal hunting and trapping regulations that result in the annual killing of hundreds of wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming pose a threat to the species.
In a 60-day notice of intent, the groups said the agency did not properly analyze the status of wolves, failed to follow the best available science and made other errors during the two years it spent considering their petition.
"It's beyond frustrating that federal officials are harming wolf recovery by denying wolves in the northern Rockies the powerful federal protections they deserve," said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Unlike the Fish and Wildlife Service, we refuse to sanction the annual slaughter of hundreds of wolves. Allowing unlimited wolf killing sabotages decades of recovery efforts in the northern Rockies, as well as those in neighboring West Coast and southern Rockies states."
Gray wolves were reintroduced to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s. The animals flourished and their numbers quickly outpaced goals of the reintroduce plan. But attempts by the agency to remove them from protected status were blocked by court rulings. In 2009, Republican Congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., authored and passed legislation that delisted the animals and returned their management to state wildlife agencies.
Since that time, the states have increasingly loosened hunting and trapping regulations in a stated effort to reduce wolf populations.
Sensitive species
In an unrelated process, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking public comments on a proposal to downgrade the status of wolves in the Evergreen State. Wolves are listed as endangered by the Washington Endangered Species Act. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is required to assess the status of protected animals every five years. The agency is proposing to downgrade the state status from endangered to sensitive.
"Wolves in Washington have made significant progress toward recovery since their original state endangered listing in 1980, when there were no known breeding wolves in the state," said Julia Smith, the state's Endangered Species Recovery Section Manager. "This recommended reclassification to sensitive reflects that progress and most accurately describes the current status of wolves in Washington, while also recognizing that wolves are not yet established in western Washington and should remain protected."
The federal status of wolves in Washington is more complicated. They are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in the western two thirds of the state and are not federally protected in the eastern third which is considered part of the Northern Rockies area.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
