US sued in bid to force decision on Rockies wolf protections

Opponents of the state's decision to eradicate a wolf pack in order to protect cattle protest outside of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on Sept. 1, 2016, in Olympia, Wash. Wildlife advocates are suing federal officials after they missed a deadline to decide if protections for wolves should be restored across the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains. Republican-led states in the region have made it easier to kill the predators. That's raised worries that wolf numbers could be reduced to unsustainable levels. The Biden administration said in a preliminary finding last Sept. 2021, that …