The most recent data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows the plan would remove Endangered Species Act protection from more than 4,500 wolves<\/a> in the western Great Lakes region, as well as nearly 2,800 wolves<\/a> in seven western states.<\/p>\n News with a little more humanity<\/p>\n WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today\u201d newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.<\/p>\n The legislation would also bar courts from reviewing the decision. Animal rights and environmental groups have mounted multiple legal challenges over the years to ensure protections for wolves. On the House floor, Tiffany said the wolf\u2019s status has bounced back and forth between being listed and delisted.<\/p>\n \u201cWisconsinites know best when it comes to managing Wisconsin\u2019s wolf population, and it\u2019s long past time we empowered Wisconsinites to be able to manage the gray wolf population,\u201d Tiffany said.<\/p>\n Tiffany, a GOP candidate for governor<\/a>, argued that pets and livestock in rural areas are being \u201cslaughtered\u201d due to lacking wolf management.<\/p>\n In 2022, a federal judge ruled<\/a> wolves should be placed back on the endangered species list, saying federal wildlife regulators failed to show wolf populations would remain sustainable without federal protections.<\/p>\n Wisconsin law<\/a> mandates a wolf hunt when federal protections are removed. <\/p>\n In February 2021, state-licensed hunters killed 218 wolves<\/a> in less than three days, consuming Ojibwe tribes\u2019 share of the harvest and surpassing a 200-wolf quota. In 2021, Idaho passed a law<\/a> that could result in the killing of up to 90 percent of the state\u2019s 1,500 wolves.<\/p>\n Democratic U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. of Virginia said wolves continue to face threats to their survival that include poaching and habitat loss.<\/p>\n \u201cThe protections of the (Endangered Species Act) have allowed gray wolf populations across the country to stabilize and regain strength,\u201d Beyer said. \u201cIf delisted nationally, gray wolves will once again be hunted and trapped to the point of extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill is similar to one that passed the U.S. House last year, but it failed to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Republicans in control of the Senate and the White House, the bill has better odds of passing. But its prospects in the U.S. Senate remain unclear.<\/p>\n Ben Greuel, national wildlife campaign manager for the Sierra Club, said the group is confident that protections will remain for wolves.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s a small minority that wants to advance it, we feel confident that our champions in the Senate will stand up, and\u00a0 we won\u2019t see any movement on this front,\u201d Greuel said.<\/p>\n In the past, Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill <\/a>that would expand the threatened status for Minnesota\u2019s wolves to include Wisconsin and Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula. A spokesperson for Baldwin said that legislation has not been reintroduced in the current session.<\/p>\n A survey<\/a> of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by Michigan Technological University this summer found 78 percent of respondents support continued protection for gray wolves. The project was supported in part by the Humane World for Animals, which did not have a role in designing the survey or analyzing results.<\/p>\n Most recent data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shows the state\u2019s population has grown to nearly 1,200 wolves<\/a> and appears to be stabilizing.<\/p>\n Randy Johnson, DNR large carnivore specialist, said the agency\u2019s position is that science shows the wolf population in Wisconsin has biologically recovered \u2014 a statement disputed by some scientists. Johnson said the agency has updated its wolf plan and harvest regulations, and the state is ready to assume management if and when delisting occurs.<\/p>\n Tiffany\u2019s legislation has received support from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and Wisconsin Cattlemen\u2019s Association. They have pointed to attacks on pets and livestock.<\/p>\n Wisconsin has seen 76 confirmed or probable wolf depredations<\/a> so far this year, according to the DNR\u2019s website. The most recent wolf monitoring data shows 40 farms<\/a> had verified wolf conflicts out of the state\u2019s 58,200 farms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Public Radio, \u00a9 Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would remove federal protections for gray wolves nationwide.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2027,3,111,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-357296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-endangered-species","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-politics","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/250517_WISGOP04-scaled.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany holds an egg carton as he begins his speech Saturday, May 17, 2025, during the Republican Party of Wisconsin State Convention in Rothschild, Wis. Angela Major\/WPR<\/p>\n![\"gray](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/gray_wolf_02-scaled.jpg\")
John and Karen Hollingsworth\/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/p>\n