Morgan Sherburne
After Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation into law on Dec. 28 that designates the Michigan gray wolf as a game species, a group formed a petition to block a wolf hunt.
The coalition, called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, is seeking 225,000 signatures gathered over the next two and a half months in order to put a statewide question on the ballot in 2014. This would allow voters to choose whether or not the state can create a wolf hunting season.
Federal wildlife officials worked during recent years to successfully remove the wolf from the list of threatened and endangered animals.
One of the groups behind the petition for a statewide vote on a wolf hunt is the Humane Society of the United States. Jill Fritz is the Michigan state director of the organization.
“Wolves have been on the protected list for nearly 50 years. There are fewer than 700 wolves in Michigan, and their numbers are just starting to recover,” said Fritz. “It’s already legal to kill wolves if they are attacking livestock or dogs. People are already able to defend their animals. Taking that extra step of allowing the killing of wolves for sport is unnecessary and won’t accomplish anything.”
Other organizations supporting the petition include the Sierra Club, Michigan Chapter, National Wolfwatcher Association and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Though the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, based in Harbor Springs, originally objected to the wolf’s game species designation, the tribe is not affiliated with the petition.
“I have not as an individual nor are we as a tribe signing onto the petition,” said Doug Craven, director of the Natural Resources Department for the tribe. “The wolf issue is one we continue to be concerned about. We’ll continue to work on a government-to-government basis in the near future with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in regards to the potential for a hunt, and we fully intend to have discussions with the state in that regard.”