Leaving intact protections for red wolves in North Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear a case in which two farmers in the state challenged the federal government’s right to impose endangered species rules on private landowners. The farmers and two counties sued the feds to nullify rules that provided for the reintroduction of the wolves into eastern North Carolina. The plaintiffs complained that the rules prevented them from protecting livestock against wolf attacks. The Clinton administration justified the regulations in part by citing the federal government’s constitutional right to control interstate commerce, noting that the wolves’ presence in the area has generated interstate tourism.
