The federal government has downgraded the Gray Wolf from “endangered” to “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The move reduces the amount of federal protection for Gray Wolves. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:
Transcript
The federal government has downgraded the Gray Wolf from “endangered” to
“threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The move reduces the amount
of federal protection for Gray Wolves. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Mark Brush has more:
The downlisting of the wolf finalizes an action first proposed by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service three years ago.
Back in the early 1970’s wolves in the lower 48 states were only found in
extreme Northeast Minnesota. Now, confirmed populations are found in more
than eight states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Ron Refsnider is an endangered species biologist with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. He says the status change gives officials a new
way to deal with wolves that are killing livestock or domestic animals.
“Live trapping was the only way that those problem wolves could be handled.
Now that these wolves are being reclassified to threatened status. We’re
relaxing the protections for them, and those problem wolves… those wolves
can be killed by the DNR and by native American tribes on reservations.”
Refsnider says that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will now look at
delisting the gray wolf altogether. Delisting the wolf could lead states to
establish a hunting season for wolves.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.