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A federal court judge has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act in its 2024 decision that federal protections were not warranted for gray wolves, in Wyoming and the West.

An appeal has already been filed, but Patrick Kelly, Montana and Washington State director with the Western Watersheds Project, one of ten conservation groups that were plaintiffs in the case, calls the judge’s decision “thorough.”

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"He didn't give a whole lot of wiggle room," said Kelly, "for the federal government here to challenge this and succeed on all of the various faults that he found with their decision."

The judge said the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider wolves’ historical range and to use the best available science on population estimates. The agency also assumed connectivity between wolf groups across the region, without taking into account high mortality rates.

Kelly said decisions on gray wolves could also affect the future of grizzly bears, a species some lawmakers in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have been petitioning for removal from the federal endangered species list.

This would make states responsible for their management, which Kelly said he sees as a major concern.

"The way they've treated wolves in their states over the last five or more years," said Kelly, "clearly demonstrates they are not ready for, or qualified to, take over management of another large, controversial predator like grizzly bears."

As for gray wolves, Kelly said the recent appeal could push arguments into the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.