No more protection for gray wolves in Lower 48? Draft rule proposes that [View all]
Source: NBC News
BILLINGS, Mont. -- Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that could end a decades-long recovery effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.
The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends that roughly 5,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species' extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere — such as the West Coast, parts of New England and the Southern Rockies — is unnecessary for their long-term survival.
A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.
The document was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/26/17933489-no-more-protection-for-gray-wolves-in-lower-48-draft-rule-proposes-that?lite
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