Wolves back on endangered list Federal wildlife officials said Tuesday they want to remove wolves in the Northern Rockies from the endangered species list -- again -- by early 2009. That declaration came on the same day a judge restored the predator's endangered status, as part of a lawsuit filed by environmentalists. It's been less than seven months since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stripped wolves of federal protection for the first time since 1974. The decision transferred control over the animals to state game agencies in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. But after wolves were allowed to be shot on sight across most of Wyoming -- and all three states began planning public hunts -- U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in July issued an injunction to block the killings. On Tuesday, Molloy went a step further, restoring the animal's endangered status. That means the public dispute over wolves in the Rockies will drag on. Ranchers and state wildlife agencies want hunting allowed to curb the wolves' tendency to prey on livestock. Meanwhile, environmentalists insist the wolf population remains in peril and could crash if the states get their way. Molloy's Tuesday order came at the request of federal biologists who acknowledged they had failed to prove the animal had fully recovered from near-decimation last century....