Scientists find flaws in plan to lift wolf protections

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – Scientists tasked with reviewing the government’s plans to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. say the proposal has numerous factual errors and other problems.

The five-member scientific panel’s conclusions were detailed in a 245-page report released Friday.

One reviewer, a Wisconsin professor, said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appeared to have come to a pre-determined conclusion not supported by science.

That could undercut the government’s contention that gray wolves across the Lower 48 have recovered from widespread extermination.

Wildlife service spokeswoman Vanessa Kauffman said officials were still going over the report and had no immediate response.

Five years ago, a similar report helped convince federal officials to temporarily shelve plans to lift wolf protections. That report, too, questioned the science used by federal officials.