US President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday removed species protections for the grey wolf, paving the way for the long-lasting predator to be more widely hunted.
The move was slammed by conservation groups, which said that while wolf numbers have partly recovered since the animal was first listed in 1974, they continue to be "functionally extinct" within the overwhelming majority of their former range.
"Today's action reflects the Trump administration's continued commitment to species conservation supported the parameters of the law and also the best scientific and commercial data available," said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
The department added in a very statement that the grey wolf population within the lower 48 states is quite 6,000, "greatly exceeding the combined recovery goals for the Northern range of mountains and Western Great Lakes populations."
Placing wolves under state control will allow Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin to resume hunting and trapping, activities blocked by a 2014 court ruling.
All three states are considered battlegrounds within the November 3 election between Trump and Joe Biden, and therefore the president has sought to appeal to rural voters like hunters and livestock owners.
A once highly-feared apex predator, the grey wolf was eliminated across much of us by the 1930s through government-sponsored hunting, trapping, and poisoning programs.
But numbers have increased because of protections under the species Act.
Conservationists argue however that the move to de-list them is premature and wolves have only re-occupied 15 percent of their former range.
"This isn't any 'mission accomplished' moment for wolf recovery," said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for Earthjustice, which called the choice "illegal" and said it'd sue the govt.
"Wolves are only commencing to get a toehold in places like Northern California and therefore the geographic area, and wolves need federal protection to explore habitat within the Southern Rockies and therefore the Northeast.
"This delisting decision is what happens when bad science drives bad policy."
Last year, 1.8 million Americans wrote comments against delisting when the rule change was proposed.
It has also been opposed by 86 members of Congress, and 100 scientists wrote a letter urging the govt to reconsider.
The science behind the rule change was also disputed by experts in an exceedingly peer-review report commissioned by the Fish and Wildlife Service itself.
British scientist zoologist said in an exceeding video message: "Wolves have all the sentience, and emotions, and intelligence perhaps more so than dogs.
"How would you're feeling if your dog was caught during a leg-hold trap, suffering for hours in agony? How would you are feeling if your dog was shot, so its head may well be mounted on somebody's wall?"
Currently only four states - Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming - allow the general public to hunt wolves.
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