Pet and Livestock Protection Act clears house committee, heads to full house

One of the most contentious debates in the realm of species management in Wisconsin, and, indeed across much of the country, is that of the gray wolf. The species has found itself on and off the Endangered Species List (ESL) many times over the years. Each recent delisting has been met with a court battle, and the gray wolf bounced back onto the ESL. While many believe the gray wolf to be fully biologically recovered in the lower 48 states, prominent conservation groups feel the species is still in danger, and their lawsuits have returned the species to the ESL under what delisting proponents consider technicalities.

One of the most recent efforts to permanently delist the gray wolf comes from Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), in the way of the Pet and Livestock Protection Act. The Act, now known as H.R. 845, calls for the Secretary of the Interior to restore the Department of the Interior’s 2020 decision to delist the wolf. The bill also would not allow for judicial review. This is the bill that just last week passed through the House committee and on to the full House after a full committee markup.

This new bill is essentially a rebranding of the Trust the Science Act, which failed to pass the Senate in the last legislative session. Tiffany has explained that the title of this bill more closely reflects the issues hunters, farmers, ranchers and rural citizens are experiencing. These groups, he said, were experiencing nothing short of a slaughter of their pets and livestock, with little recourse.

This debate has also called into question the efficacy of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) itself. Tiffany, Boebert and others have all championed the gray wolf as a success story, proving that the ESA does work and can help to recover a species which, more than 50 years ago, was on the brink. The discussion has shifted beyond just science. Critics and supporters alike are now wrestling with the bigger question: Is the ESA still doing what it was designed to do?

Tiffany seems to think it’s broken. And committee chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ariz.) offered a more lyrical critique, likening the ESA to the Eagles’ classic, “Hotel California.” 

“The Act was never meant to be a place where a species could ‘check in but never leave,’” he said.

While there was ultimately enough support to get the bill through the committee, it is not surprising that there was dissention. 

Congresswoman Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) warned the bill would dismantle ESA protections and revive a flawed Trump-era delisting. She said the delisting would “revive the very management practices that decimated wolves in the first place.” She also said the lack of judicial review allowed showed that her opponents were aware of the scientific flaws of the bill. 

Senator Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), however, pushed back, calling the bill a validation of state success. She pointed to Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho as models of effective wolf management that still allow control over predation issues and said that the notion that states were capable of management was an understatement. Wyoming, she said, reached their recovery goal in 2002, with Montana and Idaho following soon after. 

“The Fish and Wildlife Service failed in so many ways of actually managing these wolves and protecting our other wildlife populations, protecting our livestock producers, etc. and our communities, Hageman said.

Meanwhile, Senator Jared Huffman (R-Calif.) emphasized the ecological role of wolves and feared what could happen without federal safeguards. He introduced an amendment proposing judicial review if the wolf population dips more than 10 percent in a year — a measure that sparked fierce debate but ultimately failed to make the cut.

Tiffany pointed to recent testimony by wolf expert Dr. Nathan Roberts, formerly of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Roberts asserted that 29 percent of the population could be taken from the species without any long term population decrease. Only allowing a 10 percent decrease was not acceptable to Tiffany, Boebert and others on the committee. Bill authors remained firm on not allowing judicial review as part of their bill.

Wisconsin and Colorado were not the only states to weigh in supporting the bill. Minnesota’s Senator Pete Stauber weighed in with local numbers, noting his state’s recovery goal was originally set between 1,250 and 1,400 wolves. According to the USFWS and the Minnesota DNR, that number has more than doubled.

Supporters of the bill, such as the pro-sporting group Hunter Nation, have felt this legislation has been a long time coming. Hunter Nation has held listening sessions across Wisconsin in the last few years, looking for stories from the state’s hunters, farmers and rural citizens regarding how their lives have changed as the wolf population continues to grow and learns to inhabit areas of the state once thought not to be suitable wolf territory.

“Hunter Nation salutes the House Natural Resources Committee for voting the ‘Pet and Livestock Protection Act’ out of committee, and thanks Congressman Tom Tiffany and Congresswoman Lauren Boebert for their unwavering support of hunters and our hunting lifestyle,” said Keith Mark, president and founder of Hunter Nation. “The delisting of the gray wolf is a policy change we have been fighting for since our founding. The recovery of the gray wolf is an incredible conservation success story that should be celebrated ... The best part of this legislation is the provision that prevents judicial review of the legislative action which will preclude anti-hunting groups from using activist judges to interfere with sound, science-based conservation.”

In a statement, Boebert, too, said she was happy to see the bill move forward in a 24 to 27 vote by the committee.

“I’m very excited to see PALPA take another step towards being signed into law, which will be a huge victory for our ranchers, farmers, and landowners in Colorado and across America,” she said.

“The science has been very clear on this topic for years: gray wolves are fully recovered and their comeback should be touted as a success story. Now it’s time we encourage states to set their own guidelines and allow ranchers, farmers, and landowners to protect their livelihoods. I look forward to voting for this bill on the House floor and ultimately getting it to President Trump for his signature.”

The next stop for H.R. 845 is to the full House.