Kathleen Gray
LANSING – By a 65-43 vote, the Michigan House voted Wednesday to support a wolf hunt in the Upper Peninsula, ignoring pleas to let the issue go to the November ballot for a statewide vote.
The vote came after legislators on both sides of the issue argued passionately about the initiative.
“A business owner in Grand Marais told me that wolves have been gathering in the parking lot of his hotel. They are so great in numbers that people are concerned about going in their backyards in the evening,” said state Rep. Kevin Daley, R-Lum. “We should allow sound science to make the decision and not allow special-interest groups to come in front of us and cry wolf.”
State Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, said the Humane Society of the United States, which bankrolled the petitions opposing the wolf hunt, has ulterior motives.
“They’re highly deceitful. They want no management of the wolves. They’re striving to end hunting,” he said. “The aura of the wolves has grown to epic proportions, almost like Santa Claus.”
He said the Legislature came to the aid of Detroit when it approved a $195 million payment to help ensure the city emerged swiftly from bankruptcy.
“And now we need your help. Our entire peninsula is being affected,” he said.
But state Rep. Sarah Roberts, D-St. Clair Shores, commented: “I feel like I’m in that movie ‘Groundhog Day’ where the same thing keeps happening over and over again. You’re denying the people’s right to petition their government, and circumvention of the vote of the people is beginning to look like a circus.”
Sportsmen back legislation
The citizen-initiated legislation, bankrolled by sportsmens’ groups around the state and country, would maintain the Michigan Natural Resources Commission’s authority to call for a hunt of gray wolves in the western Upper Peninsula.
The group in support of the hunt — Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management — collected enough signatures to put the issue before the Legislature. The approval, which passed in the Senate this month, means the legislation automatically becomes law early next year. If the Legislature had done nothing or rejected the initiative, it would have gone to the November general election ballot.
But voters aren’t well-informed enough to make such a critical decision, said Mike Leonard, of the pro-wolf hunt group.
“Scientists here in Michigan have done a very good job of managing wildlife,” he said. “The voters are uninformed; they don’t know the science. They are easily swayed by sound bites and advertising.”
But that’s just hogwash, said opponents of the wolf hunt at a rally Wednesday in front of the Capitol.
The Keep Michigan Wolves Protected group gathered enough signatures to submit two petitions to the state, repealing the two laws passed by the Legislature to authorize the hunt. Both have been superseded by the Legislature’s actions.
“I’m very passionate about trying to have a voice, instead of letting them ramrod this through without giving us a chance,” said Judy Satterthwaite, a Rochester resident who helped gather signatures for the anti-wolf hunt petitions. “The wolf pack is critical to our environment. I think wolves are magnificent.”
Complaints come from U.P. residents
Residents of the Upper Peninsula have complained about wolves killing pets and livestock and encroaching on communities in the western edge of the U.P.
“They’re just picking on the wolves because they don’t want the wolves shot,” said Mary Harter, a wolf hunt supporter from Beal City. “But if the wolves were eating their pets, endangering their livestock or even their children waiting for the school bus, they wouldn’t like them either.”
The Natural Resources Commission authorized a hunt of the gray wolves in three sections of the Upper Peninsula last year with a goal of killing 43 wolves. Hunters shot and killed 23 wolves in November and December.
Voters still will see two anti-wolf hunt proposals on the November ballot. If voters pass the proposals, a hunt in 2014 won’t occur. But the law passed Wednesday will take effect in the spring and the hunt would be able to resume in 2015.
Keep Michigan Wolves Protected intends to fight the new law in court, an official said.