Fewer than 3,700 gray wolves are thought to remain in the contiguous United States, and Wisconsin was on the verge of killing as many as 43 of them.  But a federal judge halted the killing of the endangered species Aug. 9 following a request from The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection and conservation groups.

For the second time in two years, "enhancement" permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Wisconsin officials were thrown out by a federal court. The agency issued the permit to Wisconsin officials in an attempt to circumvent the Endangered Species Act, which protects gray wolves.   

The HSUS and other conservation and animal protection organizations had filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the permit. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who vacated the permit, ruled that killing an endangered species under a permit that is designed to enhance it violates the letter and spirit of the Endangered Species Act.  

Gray Wolf Protection

The gray wolf and red wolf once roamed the United States in numbers thought to be near 400,000 for the two species combined. Federally funded eradication programs, which lasted through the mid-1900s, employed bounties, poisons, trapping, and aerial shooting. As a result, the gray wolf was nearly eliminated from the lower 48 states.

In 1973, the gray wolf was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act throughout the lower 48 states. The wolf populations in Minnesota were later changed to the threatened classification.  

In a back-door attempt to authorize the killing of this species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave Wisconsin the authority to kill wolves by issuing permits to allow the state to take wolves "for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species" only. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service's recent authorization to kill 43 wolves in Wisconsin is not the agency's first attempt to undermine the wolf's federal protections. In 2003, the agency downlisted the status of most gray wolves in the lower 48 states from endangered to threatened, thereby reducing their protections under the act. The HSUS joined with other wildlife protection organizations to challenge the decision, and in January 2005, a federal court in Oregon ruled that the downlisting was not based on sound science and returned the wolf to endangered status. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service issues site-specific permits under the Endangered Species Act to kill wolves who sometimes prey on livestock. However, there are numerous effective non-lethal means for preventing wolf predation, including requiring ranchers to implement common-sense husbandry techniques to protect their livestock. 

The latest ruling vacating the 2006 "enhancement" permit is a great victory, and sends a clear message that the use of an "enhancement" permit for animal control killing violates the Endangered Species Act and is unlawful. The shooting and killing of wolves is neither research nor an action that enhances the survival of the species.