Feds Want to Lift Protections on Gray Wolves
Monday, April 29th, 2013 -- 8:32 AM
-Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, which would end a decades-long effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.A draft U.S. Department of Interior rule says roughly 5,000 wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species' extinction.
It says having gray wolves elsewhere, such as the West Coast, parts of New England and the Southern Rockies, is unnecessary for their survival.
The rule would give control of wolves to state wildlife agencies, which wildlife advocates warn could effectively halt the species' expansion.
A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections.
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