NRA Intervenes to Defend Wolf Delisting and Hunters’ Interests

Today the NRA-ILA and Safari Club International filed to intervene in three cases challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to delist gray wolves in the lower 48 states, which will benefit hunters across the country.

The plaintiffs in these three cases want to throw out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to delist gray wolves and return their management to the states—despite the evidence that the wolves have recovered. Then Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said that “[a]fter more than 45 years as a listed species, the gray wolf has exceeded all conservation goals for recovery.” NRA-ILA and Safari Club International’s intervention is crucial because it is unclear if President Biden’s new Secretary of the Interior will even defend this important decision since he ordered her to “review” it. NRA-ILA and Safari Club International will represent the voices of millions of hunters that would otherwise be unheard in these cases. 

This decision to return management of gray wolves to the states will allow them to better manage not only gray wolves, including holding harvests like Wisconsin did, but every other species as well. The decision also benefits American hunters, by allowing them to play a more active role in wildlife management. 

“It is high time wolf management was taken from the federal government and returned to the states.  The federal cookie cutter approach does not take into consideration the unique needs of states,” said Erica Tergeson, Director of Hunting Policy for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action. “Wolf populations have increased exponentially and need to be held in check to protect livestock, humans and other wildlife.”

NRA-ILA has been involved in every piece of major litigation surrounding gray wolves over the past two decades as well as legislative fixes. NRA-ILA remains dedicated to “promot[ing] and defend[ing] hunting as a shooting sport and as a viable and necessary method of fostering the propagation, growth, and conservation of our renewable wildlife resources.”

The cases are called Defenders of Wildlife v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, WildEarth Guardians v. Haaland, and Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. Department of the Interior and they were filed in the United States District Court Northern District of California. 

Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on this and all of ILA’s efforts to defend your constitutional rights.