The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver today overturned a lower court's 1997 ruling that the 1995 and 1996 Yellowstone wolf reintroductions were illegal. The district court's ruling had called for  removal of all the wolves and their offspring, an action that pleased the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), which was behind the lawsuit, but that Defenders of Wildlife called a virtual death sentence.
Today AFBF President Dean Kleckner, who called for removing the wolves, lost his job in an election.

"It's a new day for wolves in more ways than one. The Yellowstone wolves have been given a new lease on life and so has the principle that science -- not politics -- should guide wildlife restoration efforts in America," said Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife.  "It's been two long years since the district court's ruling because of the obstinacy of the AFBF and Kleckner, but ironically he lost his job on the same day the Farm Bureau lost the suit." Schlickeisen concluded, "We are very pleased that reason won in this case and that the wolves will be allowed to remain in the park so that future generations may enjoy them. We've known all along that the Farm Bureau's lawsuit was wrong legally and morally."

Using the experimental designation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 66 wolves were released into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996.  Experimental designation under section 10(j) of the ESA allows ranchers to shoot wolves if caught in the act of killing livestock on private lands.  The 1997 ruling, spurred by an American Farm Bureau Federation lawsuit, claimed that such designation was illegal and put any naturally occurring wolf populations at undue risk, since a naturally occurring wolf would be fully protected under the ESA.  No naturally occurring wolves are in Yellowstone, and any pre-existing wolves in Idaho are flourishing now only because of the tremendous success of the reintroduction program.
 
"Discerning no conflict between the challenged experimental population rules and the Endangered Species Act, we reverse the district court's order and judgment," the 10th Circuit said today (97-8127 et al.). Defenders of Wildlife and other conservationists were represented in the case by Brian O'Neill, a Defenders board member, and Rick Duncan, of Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis.

Defenders President Schlickeisen noted that "The wolves are doing better than ever expected .  They are reproducing, hunting natural prey, and doing their part to return one of America's greatest treasures to its healthy, natural state." More than 300 wolves are now found in the  region.  "Except for some rare instances in which Defenders of Wildlife has reimbursed the rancher, the wolves are mostly staying away from livestock.  It is incomprehensible that the Farm Bureau has been so determined to kill these wolves and their offspring," said Schlickeisen. Defenders maintains its $200,000 Wolf Compensation Trust to compensate ranchers, at fair market value, for any losses due to wolves.