Bill Passes House of Representatives to End Federal Protections for Gray Wolves

Gray wolves in the Lower 48 have bounced on and off the Endangered Species Act list for years now. And on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would remove federal protections yet again and bring wolf management back to the states. The Pet and Livestock Protection Act cleared the House by a vote of 211 to 204.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), aims to delist the populations of gray wolves that remain protected under the ESA in 44 states. The species is already delisted in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, as well as in the eastern thirds of Oregon and Washington. And while the topic of wolf delisting remains a heated topic nationwide, it is particularly contentious among Tiffany’s and Boebert’s constituents.   

Proponents of the bill, and its supporters in the hunting and ranching communities, say that in the time since gray wolves were first listed as endangered or threatened in the late 1970s, the species has recovered to the point where federal protections are no longer necessary. In a news release celebrating the bill’s passage on Thursday, Tiffany pointed to the growth of wolf populations in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin from somewhere in the hundreds to around 4,000 today.

“Despite this recovery,” Tiffany said in a statement, “activist judges continue to ignore the science, leaving livestock and pets to be slaughtered and rural communities vulnerable.”    

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