Fish and Wildlife Service recommends taking gray wolves off endangered species list

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed taking gray wolves in most of the country off the endangered species list, saying the animals have re-populated to a safe level. The organization notes that the estimated 6,100 gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains -- Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Utah -- and the Western Great Lakes -- Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio -- have rebounded from near extinction to exceeding population targets by more than 300 percent in some areas. (AP Photo by Dawn Villella)

State and federal agencies have spent more than $117 million restoring gray wolves since they were added to the endangered species list in 1974, reports The Associated Press. Over the past several years about 1,600 have been killed in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and thousands more have been killed over the past two decades by government wildlife agents responding to livestock attacks. (Read more)

Montana, which only has about 625 gray wolves, is considering allowing hunters and trappers to take up to five wolves, and to expand hunting season to six and a half months as part of an effort to lower their numbers, reports Eve Byron for the Independent Record in Helena. (Read more)