Hunting organizations this week brought new legal pressure to bear on the Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s long delay in deciding whether certain gray wolf populations still require Endangered Species Act protections.
Citing the federal agency’s apparent inaction on two ESA petitions filed in June 2023, the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and three allied groups filed a lawsuit this week that adds to the legal, regulatory and political tangle surrounding the iconic species.
“Unsurprisingly, the agency has asked us on multiple occasions to refrain from bringing this suit,” Michael Jean, litigation counsel at the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, said in a statement. “But we will never refrain from holding agencies accountable to their statutory mandates to scientifically manage wildlife.”
The Michigan Bear Hunters Association, Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen Association and Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association joined in the suit, filed Monday in federal court in Michigan.
