CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a formal rule calling for removing gray wolves from the federal endangered list in Montana and Idaho while leaving them on the list in Wyoming.
A separate agency rule calls for removing federal protections for wolves in the western Great Lakes.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last month announced that he would uphold the agency’s decision to leave protections in place in Wyoming.
A federal judge last year rejected a Wyoming management plan that would have allowed the animals to be shot on sight in most of the state.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and a coalition of other environmental groups say they intend to sue the federal government over the new rule. They say it doesn’t offer wolves enough protection.