Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy and 13 others in the U.S. House have signed onto a bill that would delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List.
If successful, it would return Great Lakes States and Wyoming wolf management to the states.
The issue has been hotly contested in Wisconsin and other states. Management of gray wolves were transferred from the state to the federal level following two 2014 U.S. District Court decisions that reinstated gray wolves under the protections of the Endangered Species Act.
Duffy says he would like to return oversight to the states...
"....I'm spearheading the bipartisan effort to delist gray wolves. In 2011, Barack Obama's Fish and Wildlife Service(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) delisted the gray wolf, but a judicial activist overturned Fish and Wildlife action. Along with a fellow Democrat, I'm introducing a bill that will instruct the Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the wolves, but not make it subject to judicial review...."
Duffy says the action is necessary to protect farmers and others that have had wolf predation affect them. Groups hoping to keep the current status for wolves decried the action. The New York-based Wolf Conservation Center said on its website the delisting would make the gray wolf a trophy.