[B]eginning within the next 21 days, hundreds of Gray Wolves that should be protected as endangered species are about to be hunted and killed. Appellants' interests in protecting both individual Gray Wolves in Idaho and Montana and the Gray Wolf population in the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Distinct Population Segment outside of Wyoming are about to be irreparably injured.

The wolves were removed from the shelter of the ESA after a controversial Interior Department memo was published that several animals should be taken off the list despite their numbers not being at a sustainable level. The delisting order leaves the wolves under the purview of the Montana and Idaho state governments. Montana began selling wolf hunting licenses [state hunting regulations, PDF] on the same day as Molloy's ruling. There is no limit on the number of licenses sold, but the hunting season will be closed in hunting districts around the state as regional quotas are reached. Montana hunters will be able to shoot as many as 220 gray wolves in Montana in a hunt scheduled to begin in early September, first with an archery season and then later with a rifle season. The state expects that the hunt will reduce the predator's Montana population by about 25 percent to a minimum 425 wolves. Environmentalists say they believe the population will be reduced further than that.