Federal Court Restores Protections for Great Lakes Wolves

A federal court judge put an end to wolf hunting in Michigan last week by ordering the US Fish and Wildlife Service to immediately return wolves in the Great Lakes region to the endangered species list. In its ruling the court chided the USFWS for failing to explain why it ignored the potential for further recovery of wolves into areas of its historic range and noted that the USFWS has failed to explain how the “virtually unregulated” killing of wolves by states in the Great Lakes region does not constitute a continued threat to the species.

The court order came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States challenging the USFWS’s decision to remove wolves in the Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment from the federal endangered species list in January 2012. The ruling affects wolves in Michigan , Minnesota and Wisconsin .