TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY • November 28, 2020
In stripping gray wolves of their Endangered Species Act protection across the country, the Trump administration went against both science and public opinion, and declared the species “biologically recovered.” The latest delisting of the gray wolf is the most egregious yet, both legally and scientifically. A peer-review panel found it riddled with errors and lacking the evidence to properly support delisting, but the agency ignored those concerns. This issue presents President-elect Joe Biden an opportunity to break from the mold cast by his predecessors. Biden should direct federal wildlife agencies to embrace a science-backed, full recovery of the wolf in the lower 48 states — which would hinge on restoring federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. ~ Collette Adkins, Center for Biological Diversity