The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering eliminating endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48. The only exception would be for a small group of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
If the USFWS agrees to the proposal, wolves could be delisted within a year. Individual states would then manage wolf populations.
Gray wolf populations rebounded quickly in many Western and Midwestern states over the past two decades. Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming have opened wolf hunting and/or trapping seasons in recent years after federal protection for wolves was removed in those states.
To read more on the USFWS plan, read the Los Angeles Times story by Julie Cart.
