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Most gray wolves will no longer be protected following a ruling yesterday by the Bush administration.

The Interior Department yesterday announced that dwindling wolf populations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Idaho and Montana had been sufficiently replenished to strip them of their endangered status. The feds, however, said that gray wolves in Wyoming aren’t sufficiently protected and will remain on the Endangered Species Act.

“Wolves have recovered in the Great Lakes and the northern Rocky Mountains because of the hard work, cooperation and flexibility shown by States, tribes, conservation groups, federal agencies and citizens of both regions,” Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett said in a statement. “We can all be proud of our various roles in saving this icon of the American wilderness.”

This is the Bush administration's latest attempt to de-list the wolf; three previous tries were reversed after courts ruled in favor of environmentalists who had sued to keep the animals protected.

Conservationists are threatening to sue again if President-elect Barack Obama doesn’t reverse the decision, one of a series of controversial, last-minute reg changes that President Bush has pushed through during his final days in office. The move is set to take effect a month after it's published next week in the Federal Register.

A transition team spokesman, Nick Shapiro, told the Los Angeles Times that Obama "will review all 11th-hour regulations and will address them once he is president."

The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group based in Tucson, Ariz., is one of the groups vowing to sue. “This rule ignores the wise protections of the Endangered Species Act, will result in the deaths of over a thousand wolves, and will unravel the natural balance these wolves have maintained,” Michael Robinson, an advocate at the center, said in a statement.

The gray wolf was given protected status when the Endangered Species Act took effect in 1974 after logging and hunting in the early 20th century nearly destroyed the species. Its status since has been an ongoing tug-of-war between ranchers who want to kill them because they threaten their livestock (Idaho Gov. Butch Otter once said he'd be the first in line to buy a wolf-hunting tag), and conservationists, who say states don't have management plans in place to protect renewed populations. The Fish & Wildlife Service requires that states in wolf-recovery zones have such plans before the animals can be de-listed.

The wolves' replenishment has had some welcome environmental effects, Scientific American reported in 2004. Among them: their return to Yellowstone National Park helped control the population of elk there, which had eaten trees that beavers relied on for food.

We've got more on the long battle over the wolves' protected status and a rundown of de-listed endangered species.

Image by Gary Kramer/USFWS

6 Comments

1. 1. jennaheiss 01:30 PM 1/16/09

   That's great that they have recovered. But doesn't that mean that they (farmers, hunters etc) can just put them back to where they were and what we have fought for. and with the world the way it is today it's alot easier to do. They are not protected anymore. It didn't take us long to almost bring them to extinction. But at least we now have the people looking after them and keeping count. But how long will this last?

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2. 2. verdai 04:47 PM 2/21/09

   Now is the time to recognize that Wolves are divine.
   
   can any Man who thinks seriously consider livestock on the same level?
   
   aside from C McCarthy, who is twisted but realistic in some ways, let us hear more about the ken of Wolves.

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3. 3. agarlits 10:31 AM 2/23/09

   This is pathetic, its sad that some people can justify what we've done to these animals over the centuries just because uneducated people are afraid of them. There is (or was) a natural balance in life and all we as a race do is mess that up. How about we shoot these people the next time they go to the grocery store to get food. We should be justified in that since they can justify killing a wolf when it hunts for food. I guess some people are just too savage to understand the value of life. But then you cant expect politicians to have any intelligence.

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4. 4. wolves208 06:07 PM 3/1/09

   "There is (or was) a natural balance in life and all we as a race do is mess that up."
   
   You know what, you're right. We should have just let them go extinct instead of reintroducing them.

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5. 5. shadowstrike 10:14 PM 3/6/09

   Quiet frankly is simply man trying to impose his/her own will on our enviroment. For an "intelligent" species of the world we are the only species to corrupt to understand the damages that we are truly causing. On a scientfic level we are the only species arrogant enough to think we are above the world instead a true part of it. These wolves were hunted to near extension and now we think we "know" what is best for them. If we truly knew what was best for our world around us it wouldn't be in the mess it is in. And worst yet we put the decision of this noble species lives in the hands of the worst form of man, politicans. If this doesn't show our true arragonce and stupidity. P.S.: I know I am a lousy speller...lol. Just more proof.

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6. 6. Nate 2012 07:37 AM 8/8/10

   With half a day's investigation into this, I find it tediously inevitable that there is virtually a 100% affiliation, in these opposing states, to the NRA (National Rifle Association) and each Senator for each state of Idaho and Montana are fully signed up members. Also no fluke that Lynn Scarlett (who reversed the Endangered Species decision in 2009) has made her way to the top by lecturing, writing about, and actively promoting financially incentive-based environmental policies. The proposed cull number of the Wolf would inevitably involve a huge government backed program running into many millions of dollars. The NRA would be at the heart of any such funding, for obvious reasons. The real agenda would appear to be clear then? Again the poor Wolf is made the scape-goat for a money spinner. However, it is the so-called 'Sportsman' who's voices worry me more than the ranchers!
   
   I admire the skills of a true 'tracker', yet even the Native Americans respected the Wolf. Most Wolf head-dresses were only taken from those Lupus found dead. In this age where our every conceivable need is catered for us, the average person has no NECESSITY or REQUIREMENT to kill any animal indiscriminately. It is repulsive! If we are to hunt, then let's remove the trappings of our current spoiled existence, with our supermarkets, monetary system, safe homes, and other comforts we take for granted, and return to a true 'Hunters' life; Killing for survival only with respect given the wild and mother nature as they deserve. Hunting these days is a mere rush of adrenaline, the 'high' felt from committing murder in a predominantly one-sided affair. If you can track a Wolf until you find one, I respect your acumen, but any moron and coward can fire a trigger on something defenseless. Especially something that would rather have nothing to do with you in the first place. It is a tragedy of the human condition that we cannot help but continually attempt genocide on our own and other species. It MUST stop! But then I am reminded of the ancient Cree text that says,
   
   "Only when the last tree has died and
   The last river has been poisoned and
   The last fish has been caught,
   Will they realize that
   We cannot eat money"
   

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