Premature Gray Wolf Delisting

On November 3, 2020 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( FWS ) issued Removing the Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus) From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife ( Final Rule ) delisting the gray wolf in forty-eight states, except for the Mexican gray wolf in the Southwest.2 This Final Rule returned gray wolf management to the states. Wolf delisting was a last-minute gift from the Trump administration to conservative voters, particularly hunters, trappers, and livestock owners right before the November 2020 presidential election. Hunters and trappers view the wolf as a competitor for the game that they want to kill, while livestock owners fear wolf depredation of their stock. It was also the culmination of a twenty-year effort by the FWS to delist the gray wolf