Wolves are fighting for survival and they need protection.
Red wolves once roamed widely across the southeastern U.S., including Mississippi, until extensive hunting and habitat loss drove them to extinction in the wild. After a successful reintroduction in North Carolina, their numbers grew to over 120, but the population has since plummeted to fewer than 20. Even without a wild wolf population of our own, Mississippians play a crucial role in the survival and recovery of wolves across America.
Today, gray wolves survive in just 10% of their historical range in the lower 48 states. The Endangered Species Act offers them the strongest legal protection, prohibiting hunting and trapping. However, wolves in the Northern Rockies have already lost these federal safeguards, and new legislation threatens others.
Donât be deceived by the name. The Trust the Science Act (H.R. 764/S. 1895) aims to strip federal protections from gray wolves across the U.S. and prevent judicial review, meaning courts would have no power to overturn it. Having narrowly passed the House, itâs now under Senate consideration. Additionally, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 (H.R. 8998), currently circulating in Congress, includes a âriderâ in Section 130 to remove federal protections from gray wolves in the lower 48 states.
Without federal protections, hundreds of wolves are slaughtered each year in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming under extreme anti-wolf laws passed in these states. In Wisconsin, when federal protections were briefly lifted, trophy hunters killed 218 wolves in less than three daysâmore than double the allotted quota. If more wolves lose protections, we could see similar tragedies occur across the country.
Like gray wolves, the critically endangered Mexican gray wolves (âlobosâ) in Arizona and New Mexico are facing similar legislative threats, while red wolves in North Carolina are clinging perilously close to extinction in the wild. The urgency to protect America's wolves could not be greater.
Now is the time to actâbefore its too late. Vote for officials who will protect wolves and raise your voice for their future.
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