Board wants to keep the wolves away
County says enforcement strong enough for deer, elk farms
By ERIC LaROSE
EagleHerald staff writer
MARINETTE — The Marinette County Board of Supervisors discussed two
resolutions Tuesday concerning wildlife issues in the county, including
the regulation of deer and elk farms and transferring gray wolves from
other parts of the state to Marinette County.
A resolution supporting rigorous enforcement of all rules regulating deer
and elk farms to protect the state’s wild deer herd and human health
failed to garner enough support to be adopted by the board.
During discussion, some board members expressed concerns that the
regulations were already enforced enough and many are paranoid about
chronic wasting disease, which has not been found in or anywhere near the
county.
“The problem is that the public deer herd is being treated differently
than the private one on the different issues that are being brought out
there,” said Supervisor George Bousley. “It is an economic issue, these
people are trying to make a living, and I don’t think that they have been
properly represented.
“Not only are they being denied through the DNR but the Department of
(Agriculture) gives them a lot of grief.”
The resolution stated that since a major part of the county’s economy was
based on the deer population, and chronic wasting disease cases have risen
in the state as of late, that the county needed to support proper
enforcement of deer and elk farms.
But some argued that the disease, which is fatal for the animals, has not
been found anywhere near the county, and that researchers aren’t even sure
how the disease is transferred from animal to animal
They do have their theories though, including how nose-to-nose contact may
spread it, which has led to a ban on feeding in areas and has placed deer
and elk farms under close supervision.
The rational has been that since some of these deer and elk come may come
from areas where chronic wasting disease has been found, they may carry
the disease and spread it to other animals.
That supervision, which some feel is too stringent, is possibly having a
negative affect on the local businesses that raise the animals.
“When you take somebody that just has a 40-acre deer pen, they invest a
lot of money when they buy some of those deer. And the only reason they
are in business is so they can sell some of these deer at times, and right
now with the regulation they are up a creek,” said Supervisor Don
Schroeder.
Though there were arguments for the resolution, including arguments that
the animals that are being raised must have up-to-date medical records
kept on them, it failed to get enough support, and died on the county
board room floor by a margin of 8-16 with six board members absent.
Another resolution discussed by the board, condemning the practice by the
state of Wisconsin and the federal government to transfer gray wolves from
other parts of the state to the county, did not suffer the same fate.
According to the resolution, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
in cooperation with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a
federal agency in charge of relocating problem wolves, have relocated
wolves to other areas in northern Wisconsin.
Because of this, it reads, wolves are now in the county, which was
determined by official wolf counts, local residentsâ reports and
depredation to a farm in the county.
“We’ve had them on our land and we have somebody on our school board and
two of his neighbors had two of them going back and forth along the river
down there just outside of Niagara,” said Schroeder.
It was said at the meeting that so far the DNR has not deposited any
problem wolves in the county.
“All were asking is don’t do this to us,” said Supervisor Shirley
Prudhomme.
The resolution, which will be forwarded to the secretary of the DNR, Rep.
Don Friske, Sen. Roger Breske, U.S. Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, and
U.S. Reps. David Obey and Mark Green, was approved 23-1.
Six supervisors were excused and only Supervisor Steven Felder was against
the approval.