Donald Trump has signed an executive order to strip federal endangered species protection from grey wolves and the Mexican wolf subspecies, a move that could eventually allow ranchers to kill the animals to protect livestock. The order frames the change as support for farmers, whom it describes as playing a "vital role" in the food supply and American cultural heritage, but conservation groups warn it risks undoing decades of recovery work for a species once driven to the brink of extinction in the US.

The order does not immediately legalise shooting wolves; instead it gives Interior Secretary Doug Burgum 90 days to assess whether wolf populations have recovered enough to be delisted. Mexican wolf numbers have grown from just four in 1998 to 319 in 2025, while roughly 18,000 grey wolves remain across the US, though they are still classed as endangered due to habitat loss. The order cites livestock herds at a 75-year low and a 10% rise in beef demand over the past decade, but critics, including the Western Watersheds Project and Wolf Conservation Center, argue wolf attacks on livestock are rare, rarely dent ranchers' incomes, and are already compensated by existing state programmes.