Wisconsin, Michigan and the U.S.
Department of Interior have filed their intent to appeal a federal
judge’s ruling in December that has wolves back on the endangered
species list in the Great Lakes region.
Michigan
filed its appeal Friday and Wisconsin on Thursday following the federal
agency and several hunting groups in seeking to overturn the December
opinion that restored federal protection for wolves in Minnesota,
Michigan and Wisconsin.
Minnesota has not yet filed an intent to appeal.
The
notice of appeal by the federal government, filed Feb. 19, still is
tentative, however, with the final decision whether to pursue the case
by the U.S. Department of Justice to come at a later date.
The
states, hunting groups and federal agencies say the Fish and Wildlife
Service made the right decision in 2012 when it removed federal
protections for wolves and handed the animal's management back to
individual states and tribes. That ruling allowed the first widespread,
legal killing of wolves in more than 40 years.
But a
federal judge in December said that the state governments acted too fast
in allowing too many wolves to be hunted and trapped since then. The
judge also said that the wolves had not fully recovered across a large
enough portion of their original range.
The result is
that no wolves may be killed by the public in Minnesota, Michigan or
Wisconsin, unless a person's life is threatened. That means no public
hunting or trapping for at least the foreseeable future. The exception
is in Minnesota where the threatened status allows federal trappers to
kill wolves near where livestock are killed or injured.
In
January a coalition of 20 groups that support wolf protection suggested
the federal government list the animal as threatened across its range, a
compromise that would allow “problem” animals to be trapped and killed
but that would prevent sport hunting and trapping seasons.
The
hunting groups that have filed to remove federal protections are the
Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, Wisconsin Bowhunters Association,
Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen Association, Michigan Hunting Dog
Federation, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, National Rifle
Association of America, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club
International and the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation.
As
the potential appeals process moves forward, several lawmakers in
Washington have introduced bills that would reverse the court ruling and
order the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service to remove federal protections
for wolves in the Great lakes states and Wyoming, where another ruling
has restored Endangered status.
A survey last winter
showed Minnesota has about 2,423 wolves in 470 packs, mostly across the
northern one-third of the state. In Wisconsin, last winter's estimate
showed about 670 wolves in the state. Those surveys were before last
year's hunting and trapping seasons.
The notice of appeal was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, docket No. 15-5041.
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