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- A 9th Circuit panel will hear Tuesday arguments on ending federal gray wolf protections.
- A 2020 Trump rule sought to delist wolves nationwide under the Endangered Species Act.
- A federal judge restored wolf protections after Defenders of Wildlife sued.
Federal protections for gray wolves could be ended throughout the United States if a panel of judges agree with the Trump administration in a case set for oral arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.
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The case, which grew out of a California lawsuit against an effort by President Donald Trump’s first administration to remove the predator canines from the federal list of endangered species, is one of three wolf-related proceedings to be heard by the three-judge panel.
All are appeals of federal court orders in favor of conservation groups that sued to stop gray wolves and Mexican wolves from losing environmental protections.
Wolves were hunted to local extinction in California in the 1920s, and did not return to the state until a 2-year-old male dubbed OR-7 crossed into the state from Oregon in 2011. They are currently protected by both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
But, as in other states where their populations have begun to recover, wolves near ranches and farms have preyed on sheep and cattle, and frightened residents of rural communities.
Killing livestock
Last year, a single wolf pack was responsible for killing about 100 calves in the Sierra Valley area of Plumas and Sierra counties in less than 7 months after becoming unusually habituated to eating livestock, highlighting the state’s difficulty in managing its populations of protected predators.
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Some states in the northern Rocky Mountains, where wolves are no longer listed as endangered, have begun to allow increased hunting and trapping of the animals.
In 2020, the first Trump administration enacted a new rule under the Endangered Species Act meant to de-list the wolf nationwide. The conservation group Defenders of Wildlife sued, saying the rule was illegal. A federal judge for the Northern District of California agreed, and protections were reinstated.
But the decision was appealed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International and other groups, finally reaching oral arguments five years later.
Consequences for wolves
If the panel agrees with the government, wolves would again lose their protected status.
A separate move by the federal government could also strip environmental protections from U.S. wolves. On Sept. 4, Trump issued an executive order directing Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to determine whether wolves meet the criteria for being removed from Endangered Species Act protections. If he determines that wolves can be de-listed or down-listed, Burgum should begin the process of doing so, Trump said.
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Oral arguments in Tuesday’s wolf cases will be conducted in Missoula, Montana.