The gray wolf will be protected again in Montana and Idaho, much to the ire of ranchers and hunters who say the animals kill too much livestock and game.

A federal judge ruled last week that gray wolves must be listed under the Endangered Species Act, saying that the Northern Rockies wolves must all be treated as a single population. In other words, if the wolves are considered endangered in one state, they must be listed as endangered throughout the region.

Opponents of the listing are directing their anger at Wyoming.

That’s because Wyoming law allows the unregulated hunting of wolves throughout most of the state if they are taken off the endangered list. So while the federal government delisted wolves in Montana and Idaho last year after those states agreed to management plans that included controlled wolf hunts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service kept Wyoming wolves on the endangered list.

“Unfortunately we’re not in a position to reward (Montana and Idaho) for their responsible behavior, because Wyoming is the outlier,” said Tom Strickland, assistant interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.

Montana and Idaho officials, legislators and ranching groups say they will seek to reverse the ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy and will pressure Wyoming to change its policy. A citizen committee that advises Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has asked the agency to appeal the ruling. Agency spokesman Ron Aashiem said they are considering all options and will be meeting with federal, Idaho and Wyoming officials.

“It’s a real slap in the face for those states who have worked hard to not only meet but exceed the goals” for wolf recovery, said Carl Ellsworth, a rancher and president of the Idaho Cattle Association.

But the Wyoming wildlife agency and Gov. Dave Freudenthal say they don’t plan to revise the state’s wolf policy, which the federal listing overrides. Wy-oming Game and Fish Department spokesman Eric Keszler said wolves should be considered “predators” that can be shot at will in the nine-tenths of the state that is largely agricultural land. If the wolf is delisted, hunting would be allowed but regulated in the remaining Wyoming land where, Keszler said, the majority of the state’s 350 wolves live and should stay.

In the early 1900s, wolves were nearly driven to extinction through trapping and hunting. By 1978, they were listed as endangered in the lower 48 states, except for Minnesota, where they were considered “threatened.”

The federal government developed a recovery plan that included the reintroduction of wolves to the Northern Rockies in 1995 and 1996. By 2002, the Northern Rockies gray wolf population in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming had met the recovery goal of at least 30 breeding pairs and 300 wolves spread evenly over the three states.