Judge Rules in Favor of Wolf Reintroduction to New England

Wildlife conservationists got some good news today.

A Federal District Court Judge in Vermont has overturned a two year old US Interior Department ruling.

In 2003, Interior Secretary Gale Norton decided that since Gray Wolf populations were successfully restored in the upper mid-west, nothing more needed to be done to bring the endangered species back to Northern New England.

Patrick Parenteau is the Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Vermont Law School.

He told NHPR's Mark Bevis the court's decision is a big victory for wolves and wildlife restoration efforts.

Parenteau and his students represented a coalition of Environmental groups including the National Wildlife Federation, the Vermont Natural Resources Council and the Maine Audubon Society in their case against the Bush Administration's two year old ruling on the status of the gray wolf in New England.