Legislation would put states in charge of gray wolves

Congressmen Sean Duffy, R-WI, and Dan Newhouse, R-WA, recently introduced legislation with bipartisan support that would return management of gray wolves to state control.

Management of gray wolves was transferred from the state to the federal level following two 2014 U.S. District Court decisions that reinstated gray wolves under the protections of the Endangered Species Act. These designations leave farmers and ranchers in those states without a legal avenue to protect their livestock from wolves.

“Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to use science-based wildlife management for our own gray wolf population, because we know what’s better for our state’s ecosystem better than activist judges in Washington,” said Duffy. “I’m proud to introduce bipartisan legislation to delist the gray wolf because Wisconsin farmers deserve to be able to protect their livestock, and they should not suffer because of the decisions made by an overreaching federal government a thousand miles away.”

“According to the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s best available scientific evidence, the gray wolf is not endangered and no longer warrants federal endangered species’ protection,” said Newhouse. “Our bipartisan legislation would take sound science into account. It would return management of the gray wolf to the states according to the needs of the species, as well as the needs of farmers and ranchers in Central Washington.”