Lawsuit calls for gray wolf protections in the American West. Could it affect New Mexico?
From Carlsbad Current Argus:
Federal wildlife managers in February opted to not list a segment of gray wolf populations in the northern Rocky Mountains as endangered, triggering a lawsuit this week by conservation groups including one from New Mexico that argued a listing would help prevent extinction amid efforts to rebuild the species in the state.
The gray wolf is listed as endangered in New Mexico and 44 other states, affording it federal protections in those states, and managed by state agencies in the other six states, mostly in the northern Rockies. Groups advocated to list a distinct population segment (DPS) in those states for added federal protections but were denied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which argued the species’ distribution and numbers meant it was not in danger of extinction in that area.
