Wisconsin, Colorado Lawmakers Move to Delist Gray Wolves Across the Lower 48
In 2020 gray wolves in the Upper Midwest were delisted in the final days of the first Trump administration, until a federal judge in California overturned the decision in 2022. Pet and livestock conflicts with wolves have risen sharply in recent years, with more than 100 domestic animals confirmed killed or injured by wolves in Wisconsin in 2024 alone.
This most recent delisting attempt for gray wolves was expected. It was introduced by representatives Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI). Except in name, the Pet and Livestock Protection Act is virtually identical to a bill introduced by Boebert in the previous Congress. The Trust the Science Act passed the Republican-controlled House in Spring 2024 but failed to pass the Senate, where Democrats held a majority.
The Pet and Livestock Protection Act is cosponsored by 30 representatives and has a good chance of passing both chambers of Congress. Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies — which include Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Washington and Oregon, and north-central Utah — are already delisted with management controlled by the states. The bill would not affect the endangered status of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
'Gray wolves are threatening the livelihoods of our ranchers and farmers with attacks on livestock because our agriculture community has their hands tied by out-of-date policies and progressive legal activism,' Boebert said in a statement issued by her office Friday. 'This bill enacts a common-sense solution shared by administrations of both parties and prioritizes the strength of our agriculture community over predators.'
Wolf management in Boebert's state has been a hot-button issue as Colorado Parks and Wildlife has been tasked with reintroducing wolves. Currently, gray wolves in Colorado are listed as both endangered under the ESA and as an experimental population. Delisting wouldn't reverse Colorado's state-level voter-mandate to reintroduce wolves and maintain a population, but it should theoretically allow more flexibility for lethal management as wolves continue to harass livestock in rural counties.
Related: As Wolf Management Debate Reaches a Fever Pitch, the Interior Department Hires a National Mediator
Gray wolf populations in the Western Great Lakes have well exceeded recovery goals and currently form the largest population of wolves in the contiguous U.S. An estimated total of 4,200 wolves roamed Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2024—more than three times the original recovery goals of 1,200 wolves for Minnesota and a total of 150 wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Although the Biden administration initially signaled an interest in delisting Midwestern gray wolves in September, the USFWS ultimately denied delisting requests last month.
'Scientific data, coupled with the rise in wolf attacks in Wisconsin, confirms that the gray wolf population has exceeded recovery goals,' Congressman Tiffany said in a joint statement with Boebert. 'Yet, activist judges continue to disregard these facts, leaving livestock, pets, wildlife, and communities vulnerable to further harm. The Pet and Livestock Protection Act will restore management to those who understand local needs best – state wildlife officials – and ensure that out-of-state judges can no longer dictate how Wisconsin manages its wolf population.'
There are an estimated 1,000 wolves comprising roughly 300 packs in Wisconsin. While there are no documented modern wolf attacks on humans there, reports the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, pet and livestock depredation has been on the rise in the state. This fall, a Wisconsin duck hunter shot and killed one of several wolves that surrounded his blind.
In 2024 alone there were 113 domestic animals involved in confirmed or suspected wolf depredations in Wisconsin. That figure includes livestock, pet dogs, and at least 34 hunting dogs that were killed or injured in 2024. Officials have already confirmed five separate wolf depredations of Wisconsin dogs this year. Hunting dogs, particularly bear hounds, are at the highest risk from wolves and the Pet and Livestock Protection Act has support from the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association.
Other supporters of the bill include a number of stockgrowers associations, as well as Safari Club International, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, and the new Blacktail Deer Foundation.
Anti-hunting environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity have historically sued to block ESA delisting attempts. The ESA is a tool designed to help struggling species recover, but species are not intended to remain on the list indefinitely. Delisting usually signals a conservation success story for self-sustaining populations rather than a loss of critical protections.
'Four efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and its cooperators to delist or down-list gray wolves in the western Great Lakes states have been foiled or reversed by litigation typically based on legal technicalities rather than biology,' a team of 50-plus wildlife professionals and scientists wrote in an open letter to the DOI in 2015. 'For those of us who have worked on and supported wolf and wildlife conservation issues for many years, it is ironic and discouraging that wolf delisting not occurred in the portions of the Midwest where biological success has been achieved as a consequence of four decades of dedicated science-based work by wildlife management professionals.'
Read Next: A Michigan Wolf Attacked My Dog, Then Charged Me
Friday's bill only specifies canis lupus, the gray wolf and should not affect the current endangered status of red wolves, or canis rufus. Similarly, Mexican gray wolves are a subspecies of gray wolf, and canis lupus balieyi is not named in the short two-page text of the Pet and Livestock Protection Act. The current bill only seeks to reissue the 2020 DOI final rule of the that delisted gray wolves in the lower 48, which specifically excluded Mexican wolves.
There were at least 257 Mexican wolves ranging across Arizona and New Mexico as of March 2023. While Mexican wolves have been exceeding recovery milestones in the U.S., the distinct population in Mexico required for delisting is not recovering as hoped, according to a December statement from the USFWS.
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