STATEMENT OF SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR BRUCE BABBITT ON DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT NOT TO REVIEW WOLF KILL CASE

I am encouraged by the decision of the Supreme Court Monday, January 11, not to review the federal court of appealss decision in the McKittrick case, involving the illegal killing of a gray wolf near Yellowstone National Park.

The lower courts in this litigation made clear that the Fish & Wildlife Services reintroduction of the gray wolf in the Yellowstone region was lawful, and that the killing of one of these wolves was illegal and warranted punishment of the perpetrator. The Supreme Courts denial of a writ of certiorari in this case leaves that judgment intact.

The outcome of this litigation sends a clear signal that our legal system will protect reintroduced wild wolves, that those who violate these laws will be punished, and that, at long last, the howl of healthy populations of wild wolves will once again be heard in their historic natural habitat in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico.