Current:Home > InvestJudge denies cattle industry’s request to temporarily halt wolf reintroduction in Colorado-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Judge denies cattle industry’s request to temporarily halt wolf reintroduction in Colorado
View Date:2024-12-23 10:23:38
DENVER (AP) — A federal judge has allowed the reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado to move forward after representatives of the state’s cattle industry asked for a temporary stay in the predators’ release in a lawsuit.
While the lawsuit will continue, the judge’s ruling allows Colorado to proceed with its plan to find, capture and transport up to 10 wolves from Oregon starting Sunday. The deadline to put paws on the ground under the voter-approved initiative is December 31.
The lawsuit from the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and The Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association alleges that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to adequately review the potential impacts of Colorado’s plan to release up to 50 wolves in Colorado over the next several years.
The groups argued that the inevitable wolf attacks on livestock would come at significant cost to ranchers, the industry that helps drive the local economies where wolves would be released.
Attorneys for the U.S. government said that the requirements for environmental reviews had been met, and that any future harms would not be irreparable, which is the standard required for the temporary injunction sought by the industry.
They pointed to a state compensation program that pays owners if their livestock are killed by wolves. That compensation program — up to $15,000 per animal provided by the state for lost animals — is partly why the judge sided with state and federal agencies.
The judge further argued that ranchers’ concerns didn’t outweigh the public interest in meeting the will of the people of Colorado, who voted for wolf reintroduction in a 2020 ballot initiative.
Gray wolves were exterminated across most of the U.S. by the 1930s under government-sponsored poisoning and trapping campaigns. They received endangered species protections in 1975, when there were about 1,000 left in northern Minnesota.
Wolves have since rebounded in the Great Lakes region. They’ve also returned to numerous western states — Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and, most recently, California — following an earlier reintroduction effort that brought wolves from Canada to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s.
veryGood! (64971)
Related
- College Football Playoff bracket: Complete playoff picture after latest rankings
- S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq end sharply lower as weak jobs report triggers recession fears
- 2024 Olympics: Simone Biles Edges Out Rebeca Andrade for Gold in Women's Vault
- Love Island USA's Nicole Jacky Says Things Have Not Been Easy in Cryptic Social Media Return
- Quincy Jones' Cause of Death Revealed
- Vanderpump Rules' Scheana Shay Slams Rude Candace Cameron Bure After Dismissive Meeting
- Same storm, different names: How Invest 97L could graduate to Tropical Storm Debby
- San Francisco Giants' Blake Snell pitches no-hitter vs. Cincinnati Reds
- Brian Austin Green’s Fiancée Sharna Burgess Celebrates Megan Fox’s Pregnancy News
- WWE SummerSlam 2024 live results: Match card, what to know for PPV in Cleveland
Ranking
- Burt Bacharach, composer of classic songs, will have papers donated to Library of Congress
- Kentucky football, swimming programs committed NCAA rules violations
- When does Noah Lyles race? Olympic 100 race schedule, results Saturday
- J.Crew’s Epic Weekend Sale Features an Extra 60% off Clearance Styles with Tops Starting at $8
- Amazon Black Friday 2024 sales event will start Nov. 21: See some of the deals
- Aerosmith retires from touring permanently due to Steven Tyler injury: Read full statement
- NHL Hall of Famer Hašek says owners should ban Russian athletes during speech in Paris
- Chicken parade prompts changes to proposed restrictions in Iowa’s capital city
Recommendation
-
Crews battle 'rapid spread' conditions against Jennings Creek fire in Northeast
-
'This can't be right': Big sharks found in waters far from the open ocean
-
Gleyber Torres benched by Yankees' manager Aaron Boone for lack of hustle
-
What to watch: Workin' on our Night moves
-
'I was in total shock': Woman wins $1 million after forgetting lotto ticket in her purse
-
In a win for Mexico, US will expand areas for migrants to apply online for entry at southern border
-
Olympic Muffin Man's fame not from swimming, but TikTok reaction 'unreal'
-
Idaho prosecutor says he’ll seek death penalty against inmate accused of killing while on the lam