We have bad new for gray wolves! Unfortunately for them, gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are to be seen as endangered species no longer. After 13 years of restoration efforts, these animals will be eventually removed from the endangered species list, federal officials announced on Thursday.

The restoration program seems to have helped the gray wolves’ population soar, as now Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are the homes of an estimated number of 1,500 wolves. "Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act," Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett said, announcing this way a major turnaround for this magnificent predator that had been largely exterminated in the early 20^th century. "The wolf's recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a conservation success story," Lynn Scarlett also said, contrary to the fact that the restoration program has never been popular among ranchers in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Some state leaders even said they wanted the population thinned significantly, in a move that angers environmental groups.

“The enduring hostility to wolves still exists,” said Doug Honnold, Earthjustice’s attorney. This environmental organization will even try to sue in court the federal decision, claiming that officials removed gray wolves from the endangered species list too soon.

"We're going to have hundreds of wolves killed under state management. It's a sad day for our wolves," attorney Doug Honnold also said.

Idaho, Montana and Wyoming’s official plans indicate that the three states are willing to maintain between 900 and 1,250 wolves alive. But will hunters be able to stop when their states say so?