House Votes 211–204 to Strip Federal Protection From Gray Wolves

The U.S. House of Representatives on December 18, 2025, passed the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, a bill that would remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list. The vote was 211 to 204, with 18 members not voting.

The measure, H.R. 845, directs the Department of the Interior to reissue a rule — originally published on November 3, 2020 — that removed the gray wolf across the lower 48 states, except for the Mexican wolf subspecies, from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife. That 2020 rule was vacated by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in February 2022, which restored the wolf's protected status. The bill would also prohibit the reissued rule from being subject to judicial review. The lead sponsor is Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who introduced the bill with Representative Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.

Supporters argued that the gray wolf has recovered and that management should return to the states. Boebert said her bill "delists the gray wolf from the Federal Endangered Species List and returns the issue of wolf management to the States and Tribal wildlife agencies," adding that this "doesn't mean that wolves will not be managed" but that "the Federal Government will step aside." Representative Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who managed the bill on the floor, said passing it would mean "endorsing the bipartisan policy of four successive Presidential administrations — namely, to trust the science and delist the gray wolf." Representative Tom Tiffany said the bill "provides a permanent solution, returning the population management back to the States," and supporters repeatedly pointed to livestock and pet losses in rural communities as justification.

Opponents argued that the bill substitutes politics for science and that the wolf has not fully recovered. Representative Val Hoyle of Oregon called it "an antiscience bill that prioritizes politics ahead of species conservation" and said it would "result in hundreds of unnecessary and indiscriminate wolf kills." Representative Jared Huffman of California said the bill "mandates a nationwide delisting of gray wolves" and "explicitly blocks judicial review," telling the chamber it "would prevent courts from doing their job." Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan said gray wolves "have not yet achieved full recovery, and removing Federal protections would be premature and dangerous." Opponents also noted opposition from six Wisconsin Ojibwe tribes, who wrote to Congress objecting that the bill would affect their treaty-protected resources.

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