Wolf Has Been Taken Off Endangered List

WFT? Taken off the list, but it’s still endangered.

Congress for the first time is directly intervening in the Endangered Species List and removing an animal from it, establishing a precedent for political influence over the list that has outraged environmental groups.

The groups are saying it sets an unnerving precedent by letting Congress (rather than a science-based federal agency) remove endangered species protections.

State officials want the wolf population limited because of the threat wolves pose to elk, moose and deer.

A spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said Tuesday, “We need to be able to manage them as a state to balance them with other wildlife and landowner impacts pertinent to livestock.”

Whether the population of the wolf has actually increased is still not clear.