On Wednesday, the opening day of Montana’s expanded wolf-hunting season, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced its decision to conduct an Endangered Species Act status review of the gray wolf in the western United States. In its year-long review, the agency will determine whether Montana and Idaho’s newly enacted policies, which encourage the widespread killing of wolves, threaten the recovery of gray wolves in the region. The announcement followed the USFWS’s review of two petitions filed during the summer that presented “substantial, credible information indicating that a listing action may be warranted.”

By issuing this announcement, USFWS is acknowledging that gray wolves in the west face grave challenges. But how many wolves will die over the next 12 months?

Wolves need your voice today.

USFWS is accepting public comments, so please add your voice today. Submit your comments on why an emergency relisting of these wolves is warranted and why USFWS should restore federal ESA protections immediately. There is no sound scientific or legal argument as to why the gray wolf can’t be granted an emergency relisting and undergo a status review simultaneously. If USFWS waits 365 days to relist wolves, there might not be any wolves left to save.

Submit your comments today. Please see the supporting and related materials, which include the two petitions, for talking points.