WASHINGTON, United States, Sept 5, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - President Donald Trump's administration on Friday pushed to drop endangered species protections for wolves, outraging conservationists who said the move would jeopardize the iconic predators' recovery from the brink of extinction.  In an executive order aimed at helping cattle ranchers combat livestock losses, the president gave his Interior Secretary Doug Burgum 90 days to "make a determination as to whether the gray wolf and the Mexican wolf have met the recovery criteria for delisting or downlisting under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)."  If the recovery criteria are found to have been met, the secretary is asked to begin the process of delisting.  Upon such a determination, the secretary and other officials are to meet with state authorities and encourage them to pass similar measures and loosen standards for killing wolves.  Speaking with ranchers at an Oval Office event, Trump appeared confused about what the order did, asking, "But you can shoot them as of today?" He was corrected by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins who laughed and joked: "Secretary Burgum has to do a little magic."  It is thought that at least a quarter of a million wolves once roamed from coast to coast before European settlers embarked on campaigns of eradication that endured into the 20th century.  During his first term, Trump delisted gray wolves but not the more endangered Mexican wolves, though Friday's executive order mentioned both.  Former president Joe Biden's administration fought in court to uphold the Trump delisting, but ultimately lost in 2022, and the policy was reversed.  The Wolf Conservation Center estimates there are around 7,600 gray wolves in the contiguous United States. The Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team places the number of Mexican wolves at 317 at the end of 2025.  Ben Greuel, wildlife campaign manager at the Sierra Club, framed the move as a cynical ploy to appease cattle ranchers angered by the administration's decision to temporarily increase lower-tariff beef imports.  "Trump is putting gray wolves and Mexican wolves in the crosshairs to placate the backlash caused by his own beef import policies," he said. "Turning wolf protections into political damage control will do nothing to lower grocery bills or help families struggling with the cost of living."  Conservationists also point out that ranchers are already eligible for compensation for livestock losses to wolves under state and federal programs -- the latter covering up to 100 percent for confirmed kills under Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  Trump's government in July finalized three rules weakening the landmark Endangered Species Act.  One rescinded the longstanding definition of "harm," which had covered habitat destruction. Another scrapped a rule that automatically applied endangered species protections to those listed as "threatened."  The third requires the government to consider economic and national security tradeoffs when deciding whether to designate a particular area as "critical habitat."