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Congressional effort to delist the gray wolf

A couple of bills have been introduced in Congress to take the gray wolf off the Endangered Species List. Representative Reid Ribble (R-WI) introduced a measure which would nullify a federal judge’s ruling in December which put the wolf back on the protective list in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.  Ribble wants to reinstate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rules that dropped the wolf from the list and turned management over to the states.  Fellow Republican Dan Benishek of Michigan has co-sponsored the bill.

Minnesota Republican John Kline introduced a bill which would prohibit placing Great Lakes wolves on the endangered and threatened species list and put the states in charge of managing their populations.

This is not the first time that Congress has been involved in the wolf issue; in 2011 they stepped in to delist wolves in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Washington and Oregon.

The federal government has tried to delist the Great Lakes gray wolf four times since 2003 only to have courts reinstate the protective status.