CURRENT ISSUES FACING GRAY WOLVES
Gray wolves have faced a number of threats since their removal from the Endangered Species Act on January 4, 2021, which took effect on July 1, 2021. These threats have the potential to undo decades of ecological recovery and reduce their range by half.
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The most immediate threat that wolves have begun to face under state management in the Northern Rockies is the continuation of hunting and trapping with relaxed laws. Idaho and Montana's hunters and ranchers don't want wolf populations to grow, so they convinced state legislators to begin hunts the second federal protections were lifted. They have tried to justify this by saying that there are too many wolves attacking ranchers' livestock and hunters no longer have enough deer and elk available to hunt. In truth, wolves only kill 0.23% of cattle in Montana each year on average, and mule deer and elk are the state's two most common animals. Between July 2019 and June 2020, the number of proven and suspected sheep and cattle losses due to wolves in Idaho was only about 130 of the 2.7 million cattle they had alone, ignoring other kinds of livestock. Furthermore, in 2020, 63% of radio-collared fawns survived the winter, compared to 57% over the past 20 years.
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These hunts allowed state hunters and private wildlife mercenaries to kill wolves in previously illegal ways such as baiting them out of Yellowstone, trapping and snaring them, shooting them from helicopters, ATVs, and snowmobiles, poisoning them, and killing them after hours with night-vision goggles.
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The gray wolf shouldn't have been taken off of the Endangered Species List in the first place, let alone be hunted with such ferocity. This is because they only occupied about 10-15% of their historical range at the time of their removal, and nothing was done to assure that the wolves' populations were free of risks that could cause a further drop in their numbers. These points completely contradict the ESA's guidelines. Only species that are neither "in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of [their] range" nor predicted to become so "within the foreseeable future" can lawfully be considered for removal.
If wolves' protections weren't federally removed, their populations would have remained illegal to hunt. Furthermore, if our federal management was held accountable, citizens concerned about the preservation of our wolf populations would be able to direct their concerns to one government rather than having to fight those of individual states to protect their populations. If federal protections were not lifted and all states were required to view gray wolves as endangered, the decline in wolf populations could have been entirely avoided.
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Despite this, if immediate action is taken, their populations and genetic diversity can be preserved. Gray wolves are expected to lose 50% of their genetic diversity if they continue to be butchered at their current rate. Additionally, we had between 300 and 500 gray wolves in the contiguous US when the Endangered Species Act came into effect, and while their numbers are unlikely to dip that low again, up to 90% of them in the Northern Rockies are still being exterminated.
After an overwhelming amount of backlash from the general public, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally decided to conduct a year-long review beginning in September of 2021 of Idaho and Montana’s recently enacted laws that call for the afore-stated killing of up to 90% of their wolves to see if they are seriously threatening the wolves' long-term survival.
This is a huge step, but wolf populations in the Northern Rockies, as well as in the rest of the contiguous United States, may very well be reduced to a fraction of their prior size within a year. To combat this, it is desired that the hunts be put on pause. A similar situation occurred with grizzly bears being hunted and petitioners were able to enact a hold in 1991 until the review was completed.
This indicates that if we make enough noise, policymakers could eventually reach the same conclusion about them before their population dwindles beyond recovery.
