This is Great News for the Gray Wolves!

I was really glad to learn about this court ruling tonight (h/t to Chris at AmericaBlog.com). This is an issue I've been concerned about for quite some time,and have posted entries about them here, and here. Yet, in of all places, Montana, a judge has reinstated the Gray Wolf's endangered species protection in order to prevent public wolf hunts this fall. MSNBC has the details....

Here's the lede for this story:

BILLINGS, Mont. - A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Molloy will eventually decide whether the injunction should be permanent.

The region has an estimated 2,000 gray wolves. They were removed from the endangered species list in March, following a decade-long restoration effort.

All we can hope for is that this judicial decision stands, because killing these wolves is just wrong. The very ancestors of our beloved dogs (and all their weirdnesses) are at stake here. I've known a lot of wolves and wolf-dog hybrids over the years, and despite some odd behaviors (overly shy and reserved attitudes) they are magnificent animals I'd be glad to see on a daily basis, if I could. Wolves have had a bad rep for far too long, and their near extinction (until restoration efforts in the '90s) gave me considerable reasons to despair for these noble animals.

In these days of scorched earth Republican policies, it's way past time that we work on reversing these reprehensible and callous affronts to our native species, and perhaps this judicial decision might be the opening salvo to putting the right priorities in scope again....

And one more reason that 'partisan me' might add is that voting for Barack Obama will go a long ways toward making sure that such decisions stand judicially. The alternative is far too horrifying to imagine....