Biden administration backs end to wolf protections but hunting worries grow

FARIBAULT, Minn. (AP) - President Joe Biden’s administration is sticking by former President Donald Trump’s decision to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S.

But a top federal wildlife official on Friday told The Associated Press there is growing concern over aggressive hunting and trapping seasons for the animals in the Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Gary Frazier suggested the agency could intervene if wolf populations suffer declines that could again threaten them with extinction.

Idaho, Montana and Wisconsin have adopted rules intended to drive down the predator’s numbers.

Gray wolves in parts of the U.S. over the past several decades rebounded from widespread extermination in the 1900s.