Sierra Club: House Committee Continues Anti-Wildlife Work

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources advanced a bill that would strip protections from gray wolves across the country.

In a party line vote, committee members signed off on the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI). The bill would remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across the United States within 60 days. The bill would also deny judicial review of the delisting.

The Endangered Species Act has been the focus of ire by anti-wildlife legislators in recent months. In addition to the bill, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the federal office tasked with upholding the Endangered Species Act, has called for multiple imperiled species to have their protections removed.

In response, Bradley Williams, Sierra Club’s Deputy Legislative Director for Wildlife and Lands Protection, released the following statement:

“Anti-wildlife activists have been champing at the bit for years to undermine the Endangered Species Act, and they’ve decided attacking individual species is the way to do it. The science shows gray wolves still need protections under the ESA in order to reach healthy populations across their historic range, and this bill threatens the existence of one of our most iconic animals. The American people have had more than fifty years to judge the Endangered Species Act, and their response has been overwhelmingly positive. They want the federal government to follow the ESA and fully fund its work, not tear it up.”