Fish and Wildlife is threatening to re-invoke Endangered Species Act protection.

• Chris D’Angelo
• Roque Planas

Wolf-Killing Campaigns in Idaho and Montana May Have Just Backfired

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This story was originally published byHuffpostand is reproduced here as part of theClimate Deskcollaboration.

New laws liberalizingthe hunting and trapping of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies might warrant putting the animals back under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said this past Wednesday.

Backed by the ranching industry, which views wolves as a growing liability in states with extensive cattle and sheep grazing, bothIdaho and Montana enacted laws earlier this yearmaking it easier to hunt and trap wolves, legalizing tactics previously reserved for far…