Governor Mead Responds to Ruling on Wolves

Governor Matt Mead said Wyoming will seek a stay of a decision released Tuesday by District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in which she reversed the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to transfer management of the gray wolf in Wyoming.

In a news release, Governor Mead said, “There are many positives in Judge Jackson’s decision. However, she held that Wyoming’s plan was not sufficiently formalized to support the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2012 rule allowing limited take of gray wolves. We believe an emergency rule can remedy this, and I have instructed the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Attorney General to proceed accordingly.”

He added in the meantime the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will immediately provide specific guidance to hunters and other persons with respect to the killing of wolves. Until Judge Jackson’s order is stayed or modified, the killing of wolves in Wyoming will be under the jurisdiction of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.