Molloy added that a combination of hunting and state laws allowing wolves to be killed if they attack livestock would likely "eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur."
Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who led the wolf restoration program, defended the decision to delist the northern Rockies wolves as "a very biologically sound package."
"The kind of hunting proposed by the states wouldn't threaten the wolf population," Bangs said.
"We felt the science was rock solid and that the delisting was warranted."
Bangs said government attorneys were reviewing Molloy's court order and would decide next week whether to file with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Federal and state officials had argued killing some wolves would not endanger the overall population—as long as numbers did not dip below 300 individuals.
With increasing conflicts between wolves and livestock, officials said, public hunts were crucial to keeping the predators' population in check.
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