PERC research fellow Jonathan Wood sits down with Caleb O. Brown of the Cato Daily Podcast to discuss endangered species. The gray wolf was once considered endangered but, thanks to efforts by conservationists, private landowners, and state wildlife agencies, its population has now recovered. By the books, once a species recovers, the federal government should remove that species from the endangered species list. But that’s often not how it works.
Considering the significant cost a listing imposes on the private landowners who provide much of the species’ habitat, keeping the gray wolf listed doesn’t make sense. In addition, it makes state wildlife agencies less flexible in their ability to compromise with landowners to bring wolf populations back to their historical territories. Delisting would help ensure continued recovery efforts can make the gray wolf thrive.
