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A ruling by a California judge has placed Minnesota grey wolves under the federal Endangered Species Act, thus preventing any hunting or trapping of the wolves. Photo courtesy of David Johnson
Any plans the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources had to cull the northeastern Minnesota grey wolf population through hunting or trapping ended on Thursday, February 10, 2022, when a California judge ruled that the grey wolves should be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The judgement doesn’t cover the entire country but does prohibit wolf hunting and trapping for states outside of the northern Rocky Mountains.
Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled in favor of several wildlife advocates. The lawsuit was presented by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and included the Sierra Club, Oregon Wild, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Natural Resource Council Humane society of the United States. Together those groups argued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was wrong to remove federal protections for wolves last November.
In his 26-page edict White noted, “The Service’s analysis relied on two core populations to delist wolves nationally and failed to provide a reasonable interpretation of the ‘significant portion of its range.”
In Minnesota the DNR was at least considering the possibility of hosting a limited wolf hunt to help the moose population rebound. Predation by wolves during the first two weeks of a calf’s life has been found to be one of the reasons the moose population hasn’t grown over the last eight years.
Prompting the lawsuit was the way the wolf hunt was handled in Wisconsin last year. During that hunt 218 wolves were killed in three days, which was 83 percent more wolves killed than set by the state’s quota.
In reaction to Judge White’s decree, Collette Adkins, Minnesota -based carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity, issued this statement, “I hope this ruling finally convinces the Fish and Wildlife Service to abandon its long standing, misguided effort to remove federal wolf protections. The agency should work instead to restore these ecologically important top carnivores to places like the southern Rockies and northeastern United States.
“Again and again, we’ve had to take the fight for wolves to the courts,” said Adkins. “I’m relieved that the court set things right but saddened those hundreds of wolves suffered and died under this illegal delisting rule. It will take years to undo the damage done to wolf populations.”
Not known at this time is how Judge White’s ruling will stop the killing of wolves that take pets or livestock. Each year federal trappers remove about 200 “troublesome” wolves from Minnesota.
The Minnesota DNR estimates there are about 2,700 wolves that roam Northeastern Minnesota, which is about one-third of the state. In Wisconsin, estimates are there are 1,100 wolves in the most northern part of the state.
The federal government has 60 days to appeal Judge White’s ruling.
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