Louise Knott Ahern

Michigan.com

TRAVERSE CITY – Wolves are once again an endangered species in Michigan following a surprise ruling by a federal judge late Friday.

For now, that means a nearly two-year political battle over whether wolves should be hunted in Michigan is effectively over. Animals under federal protection cannot be listed as game animals.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled in favor of the Humane Society of the United States, which sued to overturn the Obama administration’s decision in January 2012 to take Great Lakes gray wolves off the endangered species list after four decades of federal protection.

The order affects wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and places them back under the control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That means Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Commission no longer will be allowed to consider a wolf hunting season in 2015.

In his ruling, Howell called the 2012 decision to take wolves off the endangered species list “arbitrary and capricious.”

“We are overjoyed,” said Jill Fritz, Michigan state director for the Humane Society of the United States. “We’re grateful the court recognized that the basis for delisting wolves was flawed. For now, the wolves have won.”

Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Gavin Shire said the agency was disappointed and would confer with the U.S. Department of Justice and the states about whether to appeal.

“The science clearly shows that wolves are recovered in the Great Lakes region, and we believe the Great Lakes states have clearly demonstrated their ability to effectively manage their wolf populations,” Shire said. “This is a significant step backward.”

Hunting advocates also reacted with disappointment and frustration.

“We believe that state resource agencies in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are fully capable of successfully managing and conserving wolves,” said Dan Eichinger, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. “When you set aside all the other noise associated with wolves, at the end of the day, it is an irrefutable fact that wolves have fully recovered in Michigan, fully recovered in Wisconsin and fully recovered in Minnesota and don’t require the protection of the endangered species act any longer.”

Wolves were given federal protection in 1973, when the known population in the Upper Peninsula had dwindled to just six.

The population was slow to rebound at first, but wolf numbers jumped in the 1990s.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials tried several times to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list — in 2004, 2007 and 2009.

Friday’s ruling is, in fact, the third time the Humane Society of the United States has intervened and is the latest salvo in its battle to keep wolves under federal protection. The group also successfully sued to stop the 2007 and 2009 delistings.

Wolves remained on the endangered species list until 2012. By then, the Michigan wolf population was estimated at between 700 and 1,000.

Minnesota and Wisconsin almost immediately legalized wolf hunting after the end of federal protection and held their first hunting seasons that year. Michigan passed a law allowing wolf hunting in 2013 and held its first season later that fall.

More than 1,500 wolves have been killed in hunting, according to the Jonathan Lovvorn, senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United States.

Hunting opponents, including the Humane Society of the United States, were able to get two proposals placed on Michigan’s November ballot in an attempt to prevent future hunts.

Voters sided with the Humane Society, but both proposals were essentially moot. Lawmakers passed a bill last August that could not be overturned by public vote that allows the Natural Resources Commission to establish a wolf hunting season.

It goes into effect in March, but the judge’s ruling on Friday now also renders that law effectively null and void.

Fritz said the ruling was a surprise but a welcome victory after so much back-and-forth.

“We filed the lawsuit to relist the Great Lakes population of wolves,” she said. “It was based on the assertion that the Great Lakes states had proven they could not responsibly manage wolves.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.