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U.S. lawmakers are one step closer to answering the controversial question: should the gray wolf be delisted as an endangered species?
After the House passed a Republicanintroduced bill to delist the gray wolf this week, the U.S. House held a committee meeting in Sandstone, MN Friday.
Northland Representatives Pete Stauber and Tom Tiffany were part of the discussion about why the wolf should be delisted as an endangered species.
“We have heard from hunters, farmers, ranchers, pet owners, that have had their livestock and their pets being killed,” said Rep. Stauber. “I think that now’s the time to act. In fact, the time to act was a while ago.”
Republican Rep. Stauber, representing Minnesota’s 8th congressional district, has been pushing for the Trust the Science Act.
Stauber says if we follow the science, the animal should be removed from the Endangered Species List. According to the Minnesota DNR, in a statement Friday, it said wolves in Minnesota are fully recovered and should no longer be listed as threatened in the state.
“We know the numbers are healthy,” said Rep. Stauber. “The numbers, the science has showed us that they’ve recovered. What we want to do when we delist them, is allow the states to manage the wolf population in relation to what their states’ needs are.”
He believes as long as the bill makes it on the Senate floor, it will pass.
However, not everyone supports this bill, and are calling for the U.S. Senate to stop the bill from moving forward like Minnesota resident and Senior Director of the Humane Society of the United States Jill Fritz.
“They desperately need those federal protections to stay in place to protect them from the state management programs that will open up recreational hunting and trapping,” said Fritz.
Fritz said all of the hard numbers cannot be taken literally in regards to wolf population recovery.
“Reaching that number is just the beginning,” said Fritz. “Then the Fish and Wildlife Service has to determine, ‘does that species face a hostile environment when they’re returned to the state management that will prevent them from continuing to recover?’” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers the Endangered Species Act. They declined to comment on the Trust the Science Act.
