In late 2020 the Trump administration delisted the gray wolf from the ESA, except for the Mexican gray wolf subspecies (DOI, 2020). Many conservationists believe that this was premature and the gray wolf has not recovered enough to warrant the delisting (Defenders, 2021). Losing many of the protections provided by the ESA could undo much of the progress made in the last 50 years to get the population back to this level. For instance, in September of this year Oreon greenlit the killing of 7 gray wolves in response to them killing livestock, (Defender, 2021). Current recovery options have been focused around non-lethal ways to prevent interactions with livestock, as well as reinstating their endangered species listing.
