US plans end to wolf protections, critics say it's premature

If wolves are returned to state management, he said, “I do worry that some of the states could be overly aggressive and that wolves could fare worse than their current condition.”The government first proposed revoking the wolf’s protected status across the Lower 48 states in 2013, but backed off after federal courts struck down its plan for “delisting” the species in the western Great Lakes region states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.Fish and Wildlife Service officials disclosed to the AP last year that another scientific review of the animal’s status had been launched.Shire declined to disclose the agency’s rationale for determining the species had recovered, but said members of the public would have a chance to comment before a final decision in coming months.“Recovery of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act is one of our nation’s great conservation successes, with the wolf joining other cherished species, such as the bald eagle, that have been brought back from the brink,” Shire later added in an emailed statement.Jamie Clark, a former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service now with the Defenders of Wildlife group, said endangered species protections were need to prevent “an all-out war on wolves” in states that would allow hunting.“We don’t have any confidence that wolves will be managed like other wildlife,” she said.