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Duffy introduces new wolf management bill

A Wisconsin Congressman is making a new attempt to get the grey wolf removed from the Endangered Species Act list before Congress adjourns. Seventh District Republican Sean Duffy tells Brownfield, “What my bill will do is, throughout the country, take away the review process for the court, allow Fish and Wildlife (Service) to de-list, and then send the management of the wolves back to the states.”

Duffy introduced his Manage Our Wolves Act last week.  Duffy says he has a slim-but-real possibility of getting the bill passed in the House by the end of September.  “We have the votes to pass it (in the House).  Once that happens, I’ve got a few Senators who have indicated they will introduce a companion bill in the Senate so we can get a package to the President’s desk.”

He tells Brownfield it’s similar to a bill he supported from his Minnesota colleague.  “Collin Peterson, a Democrat from northern Minnesota has a similar problem like we do, and his bill was very regionally-specific basically looking at the lakes states, and what I’ve done with my bill is I’ve expanded it to include the whole country.”

If passed and signed by the President, it would remove the grey wolf from protection in the lower 48 states no later than the end of 2019, and the change would not be subject to judicial review, meaning the courts could not block the new law from taking effect.

When asked if farmers could protect their livestock and pets immediately upon signature, Duffy told Brownfield it will revert to the Secretary of the Interior as the final rulemaking process takes place, but he believes the Secretary would allow for immediate protection of those animals.