In a landmark victory for wildlife conservation, a federal judge in Montana ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) violated the law when it denied critical protections for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains. This decision brings renewed hope for one of America’s most iconic and embattled species and marks a pivotal step toward restoring Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections across vast parts of the wolves’ historic range.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by four leading conservation and animal protection groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane World for Animals, Humane World Action Fund, and the Sierra Club, who initially submitted a formal petition in 2021 urging federal protection for gray wolves. In this ruling, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy determined that the USFWS unlawfully dismissed the recovery potential of gray wolves, particularly in the southern Rocky Mountains, including in Colorado, northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and most of Utah.
“With this court ruling comes the hope of true recovery for wolves across the West,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The judge rightly found that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s unambitious view of recovery violates the Endangered Species Act. Recovery requires that wolves return to places like the vast southern Rockies, where they once lived. They can thrive there if they have the lifesaving protections of the Endangered Species Act.”
Molloy’s decision also criticized the agency for failing to account for the growing wolf population in Colorado, a natural return supported by years of reintroduction efforts and migration from neighboring states. The judge emphasized that the Endangered Species Act mandates consideration of the wolves’ entire historic range, not just the limited regions where wolves currently survive.
Importantly, the ruling vacates the USFWS’s 2023 denial of the petition, meaning the agency must now formally reconsider whether gray wolves in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and parts of Washington, Oregon, and Utah deserve reinstated federal protections. The agency has 60 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling.
The decision comes amid escalating hostility toward wolves in several northern Rocky Mountain states. In Idaho, recent laws allow private contractors to kill wolves, permit unlimited wolf-killing tags, and even sanction killing wolves with hounds or all-terrain vehicles. Bounties are disguised as “reimbursements” for each dead wolf.
In Montana, wolves can be legally killed with bait and strangulation snares. Pending regulations could soon allow a single individual to kill up to 15 wolves and trap another 15 in a single season. Meanwhile, Wyoming treats wolves as “predatory animals,” meaning they can be slaughtered without restriction or license nearly anywhere, at any time. Tragically, several wolves have already been killed just miles from the Colorado border, where hopeful restoration efforts are finally seeing wolves return to the state.
The plaintiffs in the case were represented by legal teams from the Center for Biological Diversity and the Humane World for Animals’ Animal Protection Law department. Their dedication and persistence have led to what many are calling one of the most promising legal developments for wolf conservation in years.
For now, advocates and wildlife lovers across the country are celebrating this vital step forward, a ruling that breathes new life into the fight to protect and restore gray wolves to the landscapes they once roamed freely.
#TeamWolf is a campaign launched by a coalition of NGO’s, scientists, concerned citizens, and political campaign strategists, that aims to ensure that all wolves in the United States are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Join the pack HERE!
