Trump Moves to End Protections for Gray Wolves, Alarming Conservationists

Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting the endangered-species protections for gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves, a move conservation groups fear could reverse decades of recovery work.

The order could open the way for ranchers to kill wolves to protect livestock, but it does not give them that right immediately. It says ranchers are important to the U.S. food supply chain and points to the country’s cattle herd being at its lowest level in 75 years, even as demand for beef has increased.

The figures behind the Mexican wolf recovery program show how sharply the population has changed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recorded 319 Mexican wolves in the wild in 2025, compared with only four when the animals were reintroduced in 1998. About 18,000 gray wolves live across the United States, although the species remains endangered because humans have destroyed much of its habitat.

Environmental organizations say wolf attacks on livestock are rare. They also note that ranchers already have the right to receive compensation when wolves kill their animals. The order comes as the Trump administration seeks to bring down record-high beef prices, which have risen amid drought and problems with U.S. meat supplies.