Although some ranchers have received compensation for livestock kills, most still do not support Yellowstone's wolves. The American public, however, has welcomed, and continues to support, the effort to establish wolves once again in Yellowstone. It is no surprise, therefore, that the American public is howling about a federal judge's recent decision that Yellowstone's wolves must be removed. According to the court order, the wolf recovery program violates the Endangered Species Act in that it does not give full protection to Yellowstone's wolves as the Act requires. Ranchers are smiling over the ruling.
Environmentalists are outraged.
U.S. District Judge William Downes, the author of the decision, stayed his own ruling in the face of certain appeals. Indeed, appeals have now been filed from Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation. In addition, the U.S. Department of the Interior has announced its intention to appeal the ruling. It appears that a long, drawn-out legal battle to determine the future of Yellowstone's wolves is shaping up. And in Yellowstone, Park officials are about to put radio collars on some 45 wolves in an effort to better track and monitor the status of the wolves under the wolf recovery program.