Heralded as one of the greatest success stories of the Endangered Species Act, the gray wolf will lose federal protections under a Trump administration decision expected to be announced Thursday.
The decision from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be the second time in the last decade that federal wildlife officials have tried to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list, where they say the animals no longer belong now that they’re thriving in the wild.
Like the previous attempt, which took place under the Obama administration, this latest effort is expected to face legal challenges. Conservationists maintain that wolves have only returned to certain parts of their former habitat and say that the agency is acting prematurely.
“We absolutely plan to challenge it” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, chief executive of the conservation advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife and a former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service under President Clinton. “We believe they’ve declared victory too soon.”
Trump administration ends gray wolf protections across most of U.S.
Trump administration officials on Thursday stripped Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in most of the U.S., ending longstanding federal safeguards and putting states and tribes in c…
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