An environmental group plans to file a lawsuit forcing the federal government to place more wolves in more locations across the United States.
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has a long history of taking advantage of the Equal Access to Justice Act to make money off of taxpayers by filing lawsuits related to wolves. A 2012 report used Department of Justice data that showed the federal government defended more than 570 Endangered Species Act-related lawsuits (wolves included) over a four-year period which cost American taxpayers more than $15 million in attorney fees. CBD was, by far, the most litigious organization with 117 cases.
CBD, based in Arizona, also recently filed multiple legal filings seeking to stop the state-approved lethal removal of wolves continually attacking livestock in Washington.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation maintains that wolves are recovered and should be subject to management by state wildlife agencies, in accordance with the North American Wildlife Conservation Model, which manage elk, mountain lions, deer, bears and other wildlife. Wolf populations far exceed minimum recovery levels in Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and are spreading across Washington, Oregon and other states.
(Photo image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)