MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Minnesota officials on Thursday outlined plans to permit a hunting season for the gray wolf this year following its removal from federal endangered species protections, prompting opponents of the plan to consider a court challenge.
Minnesota is home to the largest population of gray wolves in the lower 48 states, about 2,900, and could become the first upper Midwest state to set a hunting season for the animals as they are stripped of federal protections.
Federal officials have withdrawn safeguards under the Endangered Species Act effective Friday, allowing states to decide whether or not to allow the gray wolf to be hunted.
There are about 4,000 gray wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and adjacent states losing protections. Hunting seasons have not yet been proposed in Wisconsin or Michigan.
Federal court challenges brought by the Humane Society and other groups overturned de-listing bids by the fish and wildlife service in 2007 and 2009.
The Humane Society opposed the latest de-listing, opposes the hunting season and is considering another court challenge, Howard Goldman, the Minnesota state director of the Humane Society, said Thursday in a telephone interview.
“We are looking at the legal side and the biology,” Goldman said. “We don’t believe the wolf has recovered nationally. It only occupies 5