On judge's order, Northern Rockies wolf population relisted under ESA
(Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Montana on Thursday ordered federal protection under the Endangered Species Act restored to the entire gray wolf population of the Northern Rocky Mountains.
The ruling overturns a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision in April 2009 that lifted wolf protections in Montana and Idaho, opening those states to public hunting of the animals, but kept protections in place in Wyoming.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, Montana, agreed with environmental groups challenging the agency's move that allowing such piecemeal protection thwarts the purpose of the law to save an imperiled species from extinction.
"This stops the willy-nilly killing of wolves," said Suzanne Stone from Defenders of Wildlife, one of several groups that sued to regain federal safeguards for wolves in Montana and Idaho and to block wolf hunting in those states.