House Votes to Delist Gray Wolves

OMAHA (DTN) -- In one of its last acts of the year, the House of Representatives on Thursday voted to delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act and block opponents from challenging the decision in federal court.

The House passed the "Pet and Livestock Protection Act," led by Rep. Laura Boebert, R-Colo. The bill passed 211-204 with five Democrats joining 206 Republicans to support the bill, while four Republicans joined 200 Democrats opposing it. The bill would now head to the Senate for possible consideration next year.

The bill orders the Interior Secretary to issue new regulations removing the gray wolf from being listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bill also states that the final rule issued by Interior could not be subject to judicial review.

The gray wolf has been at the center of a long-standing battle over ESA listings. The gray wolf has been considered an endangered species for 50 years. The Trump administration moved in October 2020 to delist the gray wolf across the lower 48 states, arguing that recovery efforts had been successful and more than 6,000 gray wolves were in the wild. The Biden administration reopened petitions to re-list the wolves as a court case continued on the 2020 rule. A federal court ruled in 2022 that the 2020 delisting was vacated. Since then, the gray wolf has been listed as endangered in 43 states and threatened in Minnesota. The only states in the lower 48 where the wolves do not have ESA status are Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, eastern Oregon and Washington and northern Utah.

Wolves have never been listed under the ESA in Alaska, which is home to at least 7,000 gray wolves.

Predation is a major concern. Montana tracks reports of livestock predation that range between 25 to 100 cattle per year and a lesser number of sheep, according to a 2024 report from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Predation numbers have declined in recent years, though hunters and trappers also kill roughly 300 wolves a year in Montana.

USDA did a predation survey in 2010 that stated wolves were responsible for about 8,100 cattle deaths by predators, or about 1.3% of predation losses.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Public Lands Council said the groups support the legislation to delist the wolf.

"For too long, ranchers have grappled with the pendulum swing of regulatory determination on the gray wolf," said Nebraska cattleman Buck Wehrbein, NCBA's president. "The last three presidents have concluded that the gray wolf is fully recovered, yet lawsuits from activist groups have forced the agency to back away from sound science and keep the wolf listed.

"Restoring the 2020 wolf delisting through the Pet and Livestock Protection Act will give management decisions and certainty back to cattle producers, who are suffering financially and emotionally from wolf depredations that increase every year. NCBA extends our gratitude to Congress for passing this legislation and urge the Senate to act."

Wildlife groups criticized the bill. Defenders of Wildlife stated that non-lethal deterrents have been proven to keep wolves away from livestock and pets.

"This bill is deceptively named and if enacted, will deny gray wolves the protections they need to recover and undermine the Endangered Species Act," said Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations at Defenders. "Congress is wrongly attempting to substitute politics for science and judicial review, vital cornerstones of the ESA's incredible success."

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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