House passes wolf delisting bill

The U.S. House passed the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, introduced by Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, R-Colo, on Dec. 18, 2025.

H.R. 845 delists the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act, prevents endless lawfare from overturning the decision, and restores authority to state lawmakers and wildlife officials to responsibly manage gray wolf populations, said a news release from Rep. Tiffany. The bill passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 211-204. 

The gray wolf is on the federal endangered species list except in the Northern Rocky Mountain region consisting of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming; the eastern one-third of Oregon, Washington; north-central Utah and in Minnesota where it is considered threatened.

Because of the protections, killing a wolf in California is illegal, even if it is seen killing livestock.

Sierra County, California rancher and County Supervisor (aka: Commissioner) Paul Roen has lost at least 50 head of cattle in the last year to wolves. Those losses combined with other depredations brings the total to more than 90 head in Sierra Valley in the last year. Other wolf packs are killing cattle in other parts of the state. Roen said the number of Sierra Valley cattle killed is probably significantly higher than that, but the state doesn’t consider a loss to be a “wolf kill” unless bite marks or hemorrhaging is evident, and in many cases there is nothing left but a couple of broken bones and a spot of blood.

While Roen has yet to be compensated for any losses, he said the state has just recently accepted his request.

TSLN spoke with Roen and the president of the California Cattlemen’s Association, Rick Roberti on Friday, Dec. 19, while the two men traveled to meet with their state fish and wildlife department.

The two men reported that the California Fish and Wildlife director who resigned a few days ago will lead the meeting.

Roen said that because the wolf is on the California state endangered species list, it will remain protected in his state. But killing an animal on the federal endangered species list is considered a felony and can invoke a fine of up to $100,000. Meanwhile, someone found guilty of killing an animal on the state endangered list is charged with a misdemeanor and faces a fine of up to $10,000 under current law. Roen and Roberti say they would not be surprised to see the California legislature attempt to increase the punishments at the state level if the wolf is removed from the federal list.

Three wolves known to be at fault for nearly all of the Sierra Valley killings in the past year were euthanized by the state wildlife department recently. A fourth wolf was taken accidentally.

Even with those wolves out of the picture, wolves continue killing cattle, say Roen and Roberti.

“They’ve been losing cattle consistently for three years and it’s ramping up this time of year as cattle come out of the mountains and ranchers are fall calving,” said Roberti.

Roberti said wolves have been problematic in Siskiyou County in the northwestern part of the state in recent months. One local school sent kids home early last week (mid December) when a wolf was seen walking through the school yard.

One 70+-year-old rancher told him recently that he goes out to the calving pen at about 2 o’clock every morning to watch. His wife listens for the dogs to start barking, which is a sign of wolf presence, and usually happens around 3 or 4 a.m. She calls him, and he turns on floodlights and makes noise in an effort to keep the wolves away.

“They have been pretty successful so far, but it’s a lot of wear and tear on a couple over 70 years old. A lot of these people can’t do it much longer. And the emotional part is as bad as anything else,” said Roberti.

In an earlier interview, Roen also pointed out other expenses ranchers endure, for example his cows normally achieve 98 percent conception. “Our heifers were off about 30 percent this year,” said. Additionally, he and other ranchers can hear the cows bellering at the wolves each night, obviously in stress.

The killing takes a toll on the ranchers, too. Roen said many of the ranchers in the valley took shifts throughout the night to watch their herds. One neighbor, a third grade teacher took watch duty until midnight and her husband would take the shift after midnight to try and haze wolves out of their cattle.

“It was unbelievable, the mental strain we went through this summer. It’s labor intensive and it’s mentally draining,” he said.

Roberti said now that multiple wolf packs in their state have become accustomed to eating cattle, changing that habit won’t be easy.

“It’s going to be hard to break them from eating cattle. They haven’t had to hunt elk or deer for a long time,” he reports.

The wildlife numbers have dwindled due to protections on predators including bears, mountain lions and wolves, the men said.

“Predators have reduced our ungulate population by approximately 80 percent and now with the introduction of this apex predator, there is nothing to sustain them, there are very few deer left,” said Roberti.

“We are impressed when we see one deer. We used to see 50 at a time.”

Roen explained that the state requires ranchers to immediately bury carcasses, so the meat isn’t available for predators and scavengers, saying the carcasses attract wolves. Roen and Roberti said one result has been that even coyotes now kill calves more often than before because they carcasses aren’t available to feed them.

“Burying carcasses doesn’t prevent wolves from killing. They are killers, not scavengers. What it does do is takes away a food source for other animals,” he said.

Wolves are causing problems in the Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin areas, along with Colorado, New Mexico and many other states.  

“When federal protections were first established for gray wolves in the Great Lakes region, populations were only in the hundreds. Today, there are well over 4,000 wolves across Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Despite this recovery, activist judges continue to ignore the science, leaving livestock and pets to be slaughtered and rural communities vulnerable,” said Congressman Tom Tiffany. “The Pet and Livestock Protection Act reflects a commonsense approach that has been recognized across administrations of both parties, including Presidents Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. The gray wolf has recovered, and Wisconsin should be allowed to responsibly manage a population that has exceeded recovery goals without interference from out-of-state judges,” he said in a news release.

“I’m thrilled that the Pet and Livestock Protection Act has now passed the House with a bipartisan vote, marking a major win for ranchers, farmers, and property owners in Colorado and nationwide,” Congresswoman Lauren Boebert stated. “The science has been clear for years: gray wolves are fully recovered, and their resurgence deserves to be celebrated as a true conservation success story. It’s long past time to delist them and empower states to set their own management policies. I can’t wait for President Trump to sign this bill into law,” she said in a news release.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association praised the bill’s passage.

“For too long, ranchers have grappled with the pendulum swing of regulatory determination on the gray wolf. The last three presidents have concluded that the gray wolf is fully recovered, yet lawsuits from activist groups have forced the agency to back away from sound science and keep the wolf listed,” said NCBA President and Nebraska cattleman Buck Wehrbein in a news release. “Restoring the 2020 wolf delisting through the Pet and Livestock Protection Act will give management decisions and certainty back to cattle producers, who are suffering financially and emotionally from wolf depredations that increase every year. NCBA extends our gratitude to Congress for passing this legislation and urge the Senate to act.”

Gray wolves were delisted during the first Trump administration in 2020, but this rule was vacated by a U.S. District Courting ruling in 2022. Since being listed under the ESA in 1974, the gray wolf population has seen tremendous recovery, exceeding recovery goals by 300 percent, said NCBA’s news release.
 
“The science is clear. Gray wolves have long since recovered and remain listed only because of political pressure from activist groups. Ranchers and rural communities across the West face the daily consequences of unchecked wolf populations, which threaten both livestock and pets,” said PLC President and Colorado rancher Tim Canterbury, in an official statement. “Returning management authority to the states ensures that decisions are made closer to those directly impacted on the ground. Ranchers proudly support this bill, and PLC thanks Reps. Tiffany and Boebert for standing with ranchers and rural communities.”