U.S. agency backtracks on protection of wolves
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25/09/2008
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International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)
The U.S. agency that removed the gray wolf from the endangered species list in March has changed its mind and is asking a federal judge to void the decision.
The request, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, came after a U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary injunction against the decision to remove the wolf from the list. The agency had said that the wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains had fully recovered.
The injunction stopped a plan to allow the hunting of gray wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming until a lawsuit by environmentalists challenging the wolves' removal from the list could be heard. Now the service has asked the court to overrule the de-listing.