US House votes to remove wolves from endangered species list in 48 states

TThe U.S. House voted Tuesday to end federal protections for gray wolves, passing a bill that would remove them from the endangered species list in the lower 48 states.

A handful of Democrats joined Republicans in passing the bill. The measure now goes to the Senate, but appears doomed after the White House issued a statement on Monday warning that the Biden administration opposes it. Congress should not play a role in determining whether a species has recovered, the statement said.

The Republican-authored bill comes amid a national debate over the future of wolves. Hunters and farmers across the country keep the species stable and have complained for years about wolf attacks on game species and livestock. They want to be allowed to legally kill animals.

Conservationists insist the population remains fragile after being hunted to near extinction in the 1960s.

In 2011, Congress removed Endangered Species Act protections against gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Trump administration removed protections throughout the rest of the continental US in 2020. However, a federal judge blocked the change except in the northern Rocky Mountains. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last February rejected requests from conservation groups to restore protections in that six-state Rocky Mountain region, allowing state-sponsored wolf hunts in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming to continue. The agency estimated the wolf population in the region at nearly 3,000 animals at the end of 2022.

Wolves are not considered threatened in Alaska – the population there ranges between 7,000 and 11,000 animals – and are not found in Hawaii. There are estimated to be about 8,000 animals in the lower 48 states in 2022, according to a compilation of wildlife agency data by the Wolf Conservation Center.

Republicans argued that wolves have clearly recovered and that the end of protections should be celebrated as a conservation success.

Democrats responded that the species still needs help. They said if protections are lifted, hunters will again drive wolves to near extinction.

“Passing this bill would simply call wolves recovered, but that doesn’t make it so,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican from Oregon, said wolves are “born killers” and that conservationists have no idea what it’s like for farmers and ranchers to wake up in the middle of the night to deal with wolf attacks on their livestock.

The House passed the bill 209-205. Four Democrats supported the Republicans who voted for the bill, including Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Henry Cueller of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.