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(AP) - Three animal advocacy groups sued the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday over its decision to remove
gray wolves from the endangered species list in Minnesota,
Wisconsin and Michigan.

      The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.,
says the gray wolf essentially remains endangered in the three
states, and it demands that the Fish and Wildlife Service be
prevented from implementing its "delisting" plan.

      The lawsuit was filed by The Humane Society of the United
States, Help Our Wolves Live, and the Animal Protection Institute.

      "The agencies' decision to strip wolves of all federal
protection is biologically reckless and contrary to the
requirements of the Endangered Species Act," Jonathan Lovvorn,
vice president of litigation for the Humane Society, said in a
statement announcing the lawsuit.

      Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Jason Holm in Minneapolis
said Tuesday that he hadn't seen the lawsuit and could not comment
on it.

      In March, federal officials removed the gray wolves from its
endangered list and handed over management of the population to
state and tribal governments. 

In Minnesota, the state Department of
Natural Resources assigned three conservation officers to managing
the wolf population and planned to hire a new wolf specialist, said
Mike DonCarlos, the department's wildlife research and policy
manager.

      DonCarlos said he had not heard about the lawsuit Monday.

      It is rare to have a plant or animal removed from the endangered
species list. Before the gray wolf, also known as the timber wolf,
only 16 species had recovered enough to be removed from the list.

      By the early 1900s, a combination of habitat loss, dwindling
prey and bounty hunting reduced the population of wolves in the
Lower 48 states to a few hundred in far northern Minnesota and a
handful on Isle Royale in Lake Superior.

      The wolf was classified as an endangered species in 1974, when
Minnesota's population dipped as low as 350.

      Minnesota now has 3,020 wolves, mostly in the northern part of
the state, living in about 485 packs. Nearly 1,000 more live in
Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Gallery

State takes control of wolf population

Feds plan to remove gray wolf from endangered list

Three animal advocacy groups sued the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday over its decision to remove
gray wolves from the endangered species list in Minnesota,
Wisconsin and Michigan.


Groups sue to keep gray wolf on endangered species list

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