The federal government is preparing to stop protecting gray wolves in the lower 48 states, according to a draft document. The plan is drawing criticism from environmental groups.
The impending decision isn’t a complete surprise. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had announced its intentions earlier this year to propose a blanket delisting of wolves as a ‘threatened’ or ‘endangered’ species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this month called wolf recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains a success after delisting the species in Idaho, portions of Oregon and Washington, and elsewhere in the West.
Don Barry is with Defenders of Wildlife. He accuses the Obama Administration of giving up on wolf recovery before the work is done.
Barry says the delisting will harm wolf recovery in Oregon and Washington. “It could also really short circuit wolf recovery in the Pacific Northwest where you have just small little pockets of wolves that have moved into the states.”
Defenders of Wildlife says it will challenge the plan in court when it is released to the public.
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