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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Marjorie Mulhall, Earthjustice - mmulhall@earthjustice.org, (202) 667-4500

House Republican Leadership Returns to Extinction Agenda, Passes Legislation Targeting Wolves

Bill would strip federal protections from gray wolves across lower 48 states; allow hunting, trapping, and killing

WASHINGTON

In a dangerous step for its pro-extinction agenda, the House of Representatives' outgoing Republican majority passed H.R. 6784, legislation targeting still-imperiled gray wolf populations across the continental United States today. With a vote of 196-180 for final passage, the bill faced strong bipartisan opposition.

The following is a statement from Marjorie Mulhall, Legislative Director for Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans at Earthjustice:

"It's shameful that anti-wildlife politicians in House Republican leadership are using the remaining time in this Congress to attack the Endangered Species Act - the law that saved our national symbol, the bald eagle - and to push legislation to allow gray wolves across our country to be killed.

Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, gray wolves are recovering from the centuries of trapping, hunting, and poisoning that brought them to the brink of extinction in the continental U.S. But these icons of the wild are still missing from the much of their still-suitable habitat, and have they been subjected to hostile killing practices in places such as Wyoming where they have already lost their Endangered Species Act status. Gray wolves continue to need federal protections."

Resources:

The Fable of the Wolf: An award-winning film on the history of the relationship between wolves and humans and their effect on the natural world.

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

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