Grey wolves

Conservation Groups fear the move by Congress could set a dangerous precedent

Politicians in the US Congress have for the first time removed a previously threatened animal from the nation’s endangered species list. The move is the culmination of a long dispute that has pitted the wolves’ defenders against hunters who said the animals were devastating wild game they wanted for themselves.

At the stroke of a pen, Obama  stepped into a bloody fight between two American populations with clout in Washington and a loud voice in the news media – wolves and elk.
Tucked into a budget bill Mr Obama signed on Friday is a provision to remove grey wolves in a wide swath of the American West from the US endangered species list.
The move, sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators from rural western states and one of several policy measures grafted on to the budget, will eventually allow affected states to manage the size of wolf packs and, hunters say, help restore elk herds they say have been ravaged by hungry wolves.
But wildlife conservation groups fear it could set a precedent for political interference in a process that has previously been left to biologists.