The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International filed for a summary judgement and asked the court rule against extremist groups that filed lawsuits looking to relist wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains.
“Wolf populations in Idaho and Montana are respectively 800 and 600 percent above minimum federal recovery goals while Wyoming’s population met minimum federal recovery criteria the last 21 consecutive years. Plus, those in Oregon and Washington are at their highest modern-day levels ever,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “It is incumbent that these groups stick to proven science and not emotion for the sake of healthy predator and prey populations alike.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied extremist petitions in early 2024 to relist wolves in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.
“The animal-extremist groups are following their typical litigation script to a T,” said Michael Jean, Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation litigation counsel. “Their petitions were correctly denied by the Fish and Wildlife Service, and they’ve now brought feeble lawsuits to waste government time and taxpayer money. We’re happy to provide an additional layer of defense against these pointless attacks on science-based wildlife management and sportsmen.”
RMEF has always maintained that state wildlife agencies should sustainably manage wolves just as they manage elk, mountain lions, deer, black bears and other wildlife in line with the North American Wildlife Conservation Model.
(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)