by Louise Knott Ahern
TRAVERSE CITY – Wolves are once again an endangered species in Michigan after a surprise ruling by a federal judge late Friday.
For now, that means a nearly two-year political battle over whether wolves should be hunted in Michigan is effectively over. Animals under federal protection cannot be listed as game animals.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled in favor of the Humane Society of the United States, which sued to overturn the Obama administration's decision in January 2012 to take Great Lakes gray wolves off the endangered-species list after four decades of federal protection.
The order affects wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and places them back under the control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That means Michigan's Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Commission no longer will be allowed to consider a wolf hunting season in 2015.
In his ruling, Howell called the 2012 decision to take wolves off the endangered species list “arbitrary and capricious.”
–Louise Knott Ahern writes for the Lansing State Journal. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Source: Livingston Daily
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