MINNEAPOLIS — A group of wolf experts disputes that gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are endangered or that a judge’s ruling will help the population spread to other states.

A federal judge in Washington on Friday threw out the Obama administration’s decision to remove gray wolves in the three states from the endangered list, a move that bans wolf hunting and trapping in the region.

In a conference call organized by the International Wolf Center, regional experts including David Mech of the U.S. Geological Survey disputed that wolf hunting as it was regulated by the three states threatened the species’ survival in the region.

And Mech said the wolf population of the three states isn’t likely to repopulate other states, with the possible exception of parts of the Dakotas.