A bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado to delist the gray wolf from federal protections for endangered species cleared the U.S. House late on Thursday, setting up a fight in the U.S. Senate over a measure supporters say would return wildlife management to the states and critics call politically motivated.

The measure, H.R. 845, was sponsored by Boebert and co-sponsored by the other three Republicans in Colorado’s U.S. House delegation.

The House passed the bill, titled the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, by a 211–204 vote. Five Democrats joined 206 Republicans in support, while four Republicans voted against the measure, alongside 200 Democrats, including all four Democrats from Colorado’s delegation.

H.R. 845 directs the Secretary of the Interior to reissue the Endangered Species Act (ESA) rule removing the gray wolf from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife within 60 days of the law’s enactment.

The bill also blocks any effort to challenge the delisting in court.

In a statement after the vote, Boebert said she is thrilled the act has passed the House with bipartisan support.

It is a “major win for ranchers, farmers, and property owners in Colorado and nationwide,” she said.

“The science has been clear for years: gray wolves are fully recovered, and their resurgence deserves to be celebrated as a true conservation success story,” Boebert said. “It’s long past time to delist them and empower states to set their own management policies. I can’t wait for President Trump to sign this bill into law.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, but its path to the president’s desk is unclear. A sponsor has not yet been announced and a companion measure in that chamber has also not been introduced.

During a one-hour debate on the measure, supporters presented graphic photos of the damage wolves have caused to livestock.

Democrats argued the House is wasting time on a bill intended solely to run out the clock in its final hours in 2025, rather than addressing affordability issues.

Boebert countered that that the bill would return wolf management to the states and tribal wildlife agencies.

“This doesn’t mean that wolves will not be managed,” she said. “It just means that the federal government will step aside and we will have proper state management.”

Colorado’s wolf population is managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under a 10(j) rule issued in 2023.

The state has imported 25 wolves since December 2023 – 10 from Oregon and 15 from British Columbia. Ten of those wolves have since died, plus two of the five-yearling pups from the Copper Creek pack, born to a mating pair that came from Oregon. The Copper Creek pack is believed to be primarily responsible for more than a dozen livestock deaths in 2024 and 2025.

Boebert said wolves don’t only hunt to satisfy their hunger.

“They also hunt for sport,” she said, pointing to a March 2025 killing of a working cattle dog by a wolf in Jackson County.

She said agricultural producers in Colorado lost $580,000 in just one year from the wolves, although much of those costs were reimbursed by the state, a condition of the 2020 ballot measure that required the apex animals’ reintroduction.

Delisting the gray wolf, which Republican lawmakers on Thursday called a success, has been supported by the Obama, Biden and both Trump administrations, she pointed out.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle of Oregon spoke against the bill.

HR 845 “is part of a pattern,” she said. “Instead of investing time and money into supporting proven paths of success, we’re voting on far-reaching and unscientific proposals that don’t actually solve the problem and won’t make it into law. HR 845 would also fragment and make wolf management harder.”