A coalition of conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) after it failed to meet its deadline to decide whether gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains require federal protection.
The Aug. 9 lawsuit follows a May 2021 petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Sierra Club requesting gray wolves in the Northern Rockies be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The groups argued the wolves need to be protected after Idaho and Montana enacted “aggressive wolf-killing laws last year.”
“Because Idaho and Montana are hellbent on eradicating wolves from their states, these animals desperately need federal protection now,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Fish and Wildlife Service can’t stand idly by while these states let hunters and trappers kill hundreds of wolves every year.”
Montana allows hunters and trappers to take up to 20 wolves per person (no more than 10 from hunting and no more than 10 from trapping). In Idaho, there is no daily or season limit on wolves, but no person may take more wolves than the number of legal tags they possess.
Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are not currently protected under the ESA, and states have the authority to manage their respective wolf populations. The Northern Rockies population includes gray wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, along with eastern Oregon, eastern Washington and a corner of Utah. It is estimated there are more than 1,600 wolves in the region.
Lawsuit details
The conservation groups submitted a petition in May 2021 requesting USFWS list a distinct population segment (DPS) of the entire species, including the Northern Rocky Mountains population. Under the ESA, USFWS must make an initial finding within 90 days on whether or not the petitioned action may be warranted.
In September 2021, USFWS found the petition presented a valid case. Once a positive 90-day finding is determined, the ESA requires USFWS to determine whether listing is warranted within 12 months of receiving the petition—a deadline which passed on June 1. A few months earlier, in February, a federal judge restored protections for wolves, with the exception of the Northern Rockies population.
As USFWS did not provide a 12-month finding on the petition, the conservation groups allege the agency is in violation of the ESA.
“To remedy this violation, Plaintiffs seek an order declaring that Defendants are in violation of the ESA and directing Defendants to make, by a Court-ordered deadline, the overdue determination of whether federal protection is warranted under the ESA for a gray wolf DPS including the northern Rocky Mountains,” the lawsuit read.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.
“Time is running out for wolves in the Northern Rockies,” said Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney for wildlife at the Humane Society of the United States. “If federal action is not taken urgently, another deadly season of cruel, unregulated slaughter may leave us without much of a population to protect.” — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
