Livestock depredation spurs wolf trapping near Phillips
One heifer calf killed on Denzine-Kerner farm
Ryan Stutzman
Wildlife authorities began trapping last week for wolves just a few miles northwest of the Phillips city limits.
Wolves killed and consumed a calf June 22 on the farm of Greg Denzine and Karen Kerner, an area where locals say wolf activity has been persistent over the last several years.
Kerner, who works on the 47-head beef farm by day and at Lionite by night, said disturbing sounds roused her from her sleep at sunset the evening of June 22.
“I awoke to some awful racket,” she said. “Animals (were) crying.”
She said she suspected her cattle were reacting to a wolf attack, which turned out to be an accurate suspicion. U.S. Department of Agriculture authorities subsequently inspected mangled calf remains on Kerner’s pasture and verified that it was a wolf depredation.
Wildlife Services began trapping in the area (off Deer Creek Road, near the Flambeau-Elk township border) on June 26 with the intention of killing wolves in the suspect pack. None had been caught as of press time. Wildlife Services typically traps for two weeks.
Kerner said the incident it is not the first time wolves have been active on her property. She has photographs of wolves that she said were taken by remote cameras near her deer stand, and she said at least two other calves have disappeared during the last two years. But the other calves could not be verified as wolf depredations because there was no evidence left.
But now, that has changed. The bloody spine which was found just a short hike from her door shook Kerner’s nerves.
“I’m not a person who believes we need to (eliminate all wolves),” she said. “But I don’t believe these animals should be where we live.”
Kerner’s and Denzine’s house is surrounded by 40 acres of pasture, which is fenced in with barbed wire and electrified wire.
Kerner is concerned that her dog or a child might be next.
“More people have to be aware of this,” she said, referring to the risks posed by wolves in settled areas.
Kerner is seeking compensation for the loss of the calf, but she had not received a response from government authorities before press time.
DNR wolf biologist Adrian Wydeven said the Kerner-Denzine incident is the first verified wolf depredation in Price County this year.
Ten wolves have been trapped and killed in the state this year, in Burnett County and Bayfield County.
A environmental group’s lawsuit to suspend lethal controls on wolves in Wisconsin is pending in federal court, Wydeven said. But until a judge rules otherwise, authorities will continue killing problem wolves, he added.