U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes To Delist Gray Wolf
Sunday, March 10th, 2019 -- 8:42 AM
The nation's acting interior secretary announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is set to propose a new rule that would delist the gray wolf in the lower 48 states and return management of the species to the states and tribes.Wisconsin AgConnection reports that David Bernhardt said during a conference in Denver on Wednesday that recovery of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act has been a successful effort that took the national wolf population from about 1,000 in the mid-1970s to more than 5,000 now. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who's attempted several times to have the animal delisted through legislation, praised the announcement. But he understands the effort will still be a hard fight.
He says the rule will be open to public comment once the agency publishes the proposed rule. A proposed amendment drafted by Johnson and fellow Sen. Tammy Baldwin last month would have delisted the wolf in certain states, but it did not pass. The American Farm Bureau said the proposal is welcome news to farmers and ranchers, many of which have lost livestock to predatory animals like wolves.
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