Post by: Humptulips on December 20, 2014, 08:06:34 PM
(Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday restored U.S. Endangered Species Act protections to gray wolves in the western Great Lakes in a decision hailed by wildlife advocates for halting wolf hunting and trapping planned in such states as Minnesota and Wisconsin.
U.S. wildlife managers in 2012 lifted federal protections for wolves in the western Great Lakes, including Michigan, after determining that the animals had rebounded from near-extinction. The decision opened the way for state-regulated hunting seasons.
A coalition led by the Humane Society of the United States sued, arguing the decision was premature and would subject the several thousand wolves in the region to liberal hunting and trapping rules that would place their survival at risk.
Federal wildlife biologists counted nearly 4,400 wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin at the time the animals were removed from the federal endangered and threatened species list. Government estimates this year suggest the region is home to 3,748 wolves, a decline mostly due to hunting and trapping.
U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ordered wolves in the western Great Lakes to be re-listed after rejecting claims by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that states’ management of wolves – including hunting practices that in some cases allowed the use of hounds and bait – would see them thrive.
Howell found that the Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly interpreted parts of the Endangered Species Act by carving out certain populations of wolves to be stripped of protections rather than assessing the animals or species as a whole.
The decision by federal wildlife managers to delist wolves in the western Great Lakes was thus “fatally flawed” since it was tied to “a scientific finding that turned out to be, at best, premature, or, at worst, erroneous,” making the agency’s final rule unlawfully “arbitrary and capricious,” she wrote.
A U.S. judge in September restored federal protections to wolves in Wyoming after finding the Fish and Wildlife Service erred in 2012 in approving a wolf-management plan by that state that failed to ensure the animal’s long-term survival.
Agency spokesman Gavin Shire on Friday called Howell’s relisting order “a significant step backward.”
“The science clearly shows that wolves are recovered in the Great Lakes Region, and we believe the Great Lakes states have clearly demonstrated their ability to effectively manage their wolf populations,” he said.
Post by: villageidiot on December 21, 2014, 08:13:49 PM
Post by: Humptulips on December 21, 2014, 09:08:51 PM
Post by: lokidog on December 21, 2014, 09:24:20 PM
Really??? Doesn't the WHOLE population include Canada and Alaska????
It won't have an impact in northern WI as I know for a fact that more wolves are SSSed than tagged.....
Post by: stuckalot on December 21, 2014, 09:30:59 PM
Post by: wolfbait on December 22, 2014, 10:07:56 AM
"Howell found that the Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly interpreted parts of the Endangered Species Act by carving out certain populations of wolves to be stripped of protections rather than assessing the animals or species as a whole."
Really??? Doesn't the WHOLE population include Canada and Alaska????
It won't have an impact in northern WI as I know for a fact that more wolves are SSSed than tagged.....
Reading past history of the USFWS and the delisting of the wolves in ID, MT and Idaho, the USFWS screwed up just enough each time so that the environmental groups could sue and have wolves put back on the ESA. I wonder if this was part of the same game as sue and settle?
Post by: idahohuntr on December 22, 2014, 10:40:27 AM
:rolleyes: Yea, thats it...Wyoming and USFWS worked out a secret wolf plan to make sure wolf hunting would not be allowed this year...all while tricking the public by claiming to want to have wolf seasons and state management."Howell found that the Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly interpreted parts of the Endangered Species Act by carving out certain populations of wolves to be stripped of protections rather than assessing the animals or species as a whole."
Really??? Doesn't the WHOLE population include Canada and Alaska????
It won't have an impact in northern WI as I know for a fact that more wolves are SSSed than tagged.....
Reading past history of the USFWS and the delisting of the wolves in ID, MT and Idaho, the USFWS screwed up just enough each time so that the environmental groups could sue and have wolves put back on the ESA. I wonder if this was part of the same game as sue and settle?
You should read up on Occam's razor before posting any more on wolves. :twocents:
Post by: lokidog on December 22, 2014, 12:37:11 PM
Post by: idahohuntr on December 22, 2014, 12:51:15 PM
Idaho, what is your response to the part in bold? I was being serious asking that.Groups of wolves should not be listed/managed in an arbitrary manner...define them biologically, not politically is largely how I interpret the bold part. And when the court finds fault with the de-listing process thats what causes them to be re-listed.
Gray wolves are not endangered. The state game agencies believe that, the federal government believes that and most reasonable people understand that...probably even the judge in this case. This constant lawsuit crap over a species most folks agree is not endangered is what resulted in federal law that exempted Idaho and Montana from these kinds of lawsuits...so maybe there is a silver lining here...the public will only take so much bs.