Wis. banned from killing (endangered) gray wolves [View All]

Wis. banned from killing gray wolves
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction barring Wisconsin from killing gray wolves, siding with animal welfare and environmental groups that argue the killing violates the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had issued a permit to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for the killing of up to 43 gray wolves. The state argued that the permit was necessary to maintain social tolerance for the wolves, which are listed as endangered.

In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly mocked that rationale.

"Simply put," Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her decision, "the recovery of the gray wolf is not supported by killing 43 gray wolves."

Wolves were wiped out in Wisconsin in the 1950s after decades of bounty hunting. Since the animal was granted protection as an endangered species in the 1970s, wolves migrated back from Minnesota, and about 500 live mostly in northern and central Wisconsin.

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