In an amazing court victory for wild wolves and advocates who tirelessly speak on their behalf, the federal district court in Missoula, Montana ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it determined that gray wolves in the western United States do not warrant federal protections.

Western Watersheds Project, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, WildEarth Guardians, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Predator Defense, Protect the Wolves, Trap Free Montana,Wilderness Watch, Friends of the Clearwater, and Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment filed a lawsuit in January challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s denial of their petitions to list a western U.S. distinct population segment (DPS) of gray wolves under the ESA, or alternatively, to re-list the Northern Rocky Mountain DPS, which Congress “delisted” in 2011.

The ruling means that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s finding that gray wolves in the West do not qualify for listing  is vacated and sent back to the agency for a new decision, consistent with the Endangered Species Act and best available science.

We hope this order will help blunt some of the lingering bigotry, senseless killing and fear mongering that nearly wiped wolves out before they were listed as endangered under the provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act in 1974.

The court order states that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider the “best available science” on wolf populations and the impacts of hunting and trapping; the full extent of the species’ historical range; and the threat posed by inadequate state and federal regulations that often bow to political pressure.

The court ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to re-analyze threats to the gray wolf population in the West in accordance with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. These include the requirement to use the best available science.

Specifically, the court noted the agency failed to consider wolves’ lost historic range throughout the West in its assessment.

The court also ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service  failed to apply the best available science on population estimates and genetic threats from their small population size; incorrectly assumed connectivity among wolves in the West would continue despite high levels of mortality in the Northern Rockies.

To sum it up, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t follow the law to protect wolves from Montana’s, Idaho’s, and Wyoming’s wolf extermination policies. Wolves have yet to recover across the West, and allowing a few states to undertake aggressive wolf slaughters is inconsistent with the law.

The Alliance successfully sued to overturn the delisting of the gray wolf in 2012, but Montana’s Democratic Senator Jon Tester broke his campaign promise to not use riders to overturn court decisions and attached a rider to a must-pass Defense appropriation bill to remove wolves from Endangered Species list despite the court’s order. It is time to once again manage wolves in the Northern Rockies and throughout the west based on science, not politics, since Montana, Idaho and

Wyoming have demonstrated that they are not capable of doing so.

I would like to thank Matt Bishop, an attorney at Western Environmental Law Center for representing us and winning. 

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