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NRDC and other conservation groups scored a huge victory August 5, when a federal judge ruled that gray wolves in Montana and Idaho must be returned to the endangered species list. The decision came just in time to stop this year’s wolf hunts, which were set to begin in September. Last fall 260 wolves were killed in Montana and Idaho, and both states planned to raise quotas this year.

In April 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed most Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves from the federal endangered species list. Although the government kept protections in place for wolves in Wyoming, it lifted them from wolves in Montana and Idaho. The piecemeal nature of the delisting, as well as, among other things, the lax state regulations and outdated science the agency used to make its decision, prompted NRDC and its allies to sue in federal court.

Representing 13 conservation groups, the environmental law firm Earthjustice argued that using state boundaries rather than scientific data to determine which wolves to protect was a violation of endangered species law. Judge Donald Molloy agreed, ruling that the government cannot delist only part of a biological population.

NRDC gratefully acknowledges the Benindi Fund for its generous support of our efforts to protect the wolves of Greater Yellowstone.