Gray wolf. (Photo courtesy of Gary Kramer, USFWS.)

December 15, 2021 (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) today led a bipartisan group of 78 Representatives urging the Department of the Interior to “immediately issue an emergency listing to temporarily restore federal protections through the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the gray wolf.”

They wrote:

“While we appreciate the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to conduct a 12-month status review to revisit the listing of the gray wolf in the Northern Rockies, we are extremely concerned that wolves around the country will continue to be needlessly killed in the interim, further jeopardizing the species. We have already seen evidence of mass killings in several states after the gray wolf was delisted, and more, larger hunts are planned as of now.  Such actions warrant an emergency listing to protect the species from dangerous reductions in population size that could lead to extinction.”

The full text of the letter and a signed copy is available here.

WHAT YOU CAN DO 

This Congressional letter is another push for the Biden Admin to do the right thing by wolves – put them back on the endangered species list.  We are recruiting scientists to sign onto a science-based letter asking for the same remedy. If you are a scientist, please join over 800 other scientists in endorsing this letter, sign on here.  If you haven’t already, anyone can sign on to Project Coyote’s Petition to Interior Secretary Haaland urging her to relist wolves under the ESA through an emergency rulemaking process and to establish a national wolf recovery plan immediately. You can also write to your own congresspeople to urge them to support relisting wolves.