Earthjustice Files its Legal Challenge to the Wolf Killing

Dear SUE,

Wolf 253M (also known as "Hoppy" or "Limpy"), one of 1,500 gray wolves that lost federal protections, was killed on March 28th
Photo courtesy Steve JustadJust moments ago, Earthjustice attorneys filed our case to stop the wolf slaughter in the northern Rockies. And we aim to win!

Earthjustice has been called upon by a coalition of environmental and animal rights groups -- including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Humane Society -- to use our legal expertise to stop the killing now and compel the federal government to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves until true recovery is achieved.

As soon as the federal government officially delisted the northern Rockies gray wolf from Endangered Species protections, we filed a mandatory notice of intent to challenge the decision. Our notice went unanswered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now it's time for our day in court.

The USFWS failed to take into account basic principles of conservation biology, disregarded its own policies, and departed from past practice in delisting the wolf.

As we go to court today, Earthjustice will argue that the Service:

• used an outdated and biologically inadequate standard for determining the number of wolves that must be protected in order to maintain a genetically viable population;
  
• ignored the agency's own requirement that wolves in the northern Rockies' core recovery populations must be connected and interbreed before they can be deemed recovered; and 
  
• failed to take into account that state laws that currently govern the fate of the wolves in the absence of federal protections allow unregulated wolf killing.

At this moment, at least 20 wolves have already been killed in the northern Rockies and around Yellowstone National Park.

Earthjustice is using all the legal tools at our disposal to stop this tragedy as quickly as possible. Now that the Service has issues its final decision, the courts are the best way to stop the slaughter and get adequate protections reinstated for the wolves.

Learn more about what we're doing to save these magnificent, iconic animals.

Sincerely,