Gray wolves will be delisted in Wisconsin
Pride and Progress 2007
Bill Thornley
Spooner Advocate
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission and the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Jan. 26 that they were removing the gray wolf from the federal list of threatened and endangered species for the western Great Lakes region, including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, and parts of North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
The agencies also proposed removing the northern Rocky Mountain population of gray wolves from the endangered species list. That population includes wolves in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
This truly is a success story, one that we can all be proud of, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Hassett said. Wisconsin has some great natural places many of them preserved forever by the Stewardship fund that support and nurture wildlife like our wolves. I for one am looking forward to the day when I hear a wolfs call on a cold winter night.
Delisting of the gray wolf or timber wolf means that Wisconsin landowners could soon have authority to shoot problem wolves for the first time since 1957. The announcement in Washington removes federal protections for the gray wolf, beginning 30 days after the regulations are published in the Federal Register.
The move by the Fish and Wildlife Service will turn over authority for management to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
The gray wolf is one of the success stories of the Endangered Species Act, which extended protection to the animals in 1974. Today, having made a remarkable recovery, an estimated 3,020 wolves roam Minnesota. Wisconsins wolf population is estimated at around 460, upper Michigan has an estimated 430, and Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior has a population of 30.
A court challenge is almost certain, however. Karlyn Atkinson Berg, a wolf consultant for the Humane Society of the United States, has predicted that her organization would file suit. Other challenges could be made as well.
Wisconsins plan will allow a landowner or leaseholder to kill wolves that are attacking livestock or pets. It also will allow parties to obtain a permit to kill a specific number of wolves on their land over a prescribed period if there is a history of predation.
A landowner who has not had predation problems previously will not be allowed to shoot a wolf just for crossing the property. In the future, a wolf hunting season is also possible.
Adrian Wydeven, a wolf biologist with the Wisconsin DNR, said as many as 100 wolves could be killed in the state under the new rules while still maintaining a healthy wolf population.
The DNR has a management goal of 350 wolves. Currently the population has been estimated at between 455 to 500, and many people believe it is actually much higher than that.
With the increased wolf population in Wisconsin, human and wolf conflicts have been rising and tensions have been growing. Livestock, pets and bear hunting dogs have all come under attack more frequently in recent years.
In Wisconsin, wolves became a protected species in 1957. Unregulated shooting and trapping, encouraged by a legislative state bounty, resulted in the extirpation of the wolf in Wisconsin by 1960. During the mid-1970s, however, wolves began to reappear in Wisconsin naturally, wandering in from Minnesota.
The gray wolf will still be a protected wild animal, delisting it gives the DNR the necessary tools tools we havent always had to deal with problem wolves. We are standing ready to take responsibility for managing our states wolf population, said Secretary Hassett.
Wisconsin will continue to reimburse livestock, pet and bear dog owners for verified wolf depredations.