By Tim Martin
LANSING, MI – Michigan wildlife officials are expected to make a formal recommendation next month on whether the state should allow a wolf hunting season.
Department of Natural Resources officials have been asked to have a recommendation ready for an April 11 meeting of the state’s Natural Resources Commission.
A vote on the recommendation is not expected at the April meeting, but could come at a later date.
“Interest in this decision is, understandably, very high throughout Michigan,” John Madigan, chairman of the NRC’s Policy Committee on Wildlife and Fisheries, said in a statement.
Madigan said out-of-state wolf experts are expected to meet with his NRC policy committee in May. He said the NRC will continue to look at information “in order to come to the best science- and management-based decision” about the possible wolf hunt.
If a hunt is authorized, it likely would focus exclusively on parts of the Upper Peninsula.
But an opposition group has started a campaign that could at least temporarily derail a hunt regardless of any upcoming NRC decision.
A coalition called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected has said it is “well within reach of its goal” of collecting enough signatures to advance its measure aimed at blocking a hunt.
If the opposition group collects at least 161,305 valid voter signatures by late March, a measure that could overturn the state law could be placed on the November 2014 ballot.
If the opposition group’s proposal were to be certified for the ballot, Michigan’s new state law that could lead to the authorization of a hunt would be suspended until the election. Voters would make the final decision about the law’s status.
The Department of Natural Resources estimated roughly 700 wolves lived in the Upper Peninsula in 2011. That’s up from just more than 500 in 2008 and just more than 200 in 2000. A new population estimate could be completed soon.
Farmers say wolves are attacking their livestock, and wolves have wandered into Upper Peninsula towns including Ironwood. Supporters of considering a hunt say currently allowable methods aimed at preventing attacks on livestock — such as permitting farmers to shoot wolves they catch in the act — haven’t worked.
Those who support exploring a possible hunt include the Michigan United Conservation Clubs and the Michigan Farm Bureau.
The Humane Society of the United States – a key member of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected — says there’s no reason to hunt wolves and that they would be hunted only as trophies. The organization has said it wants the animals returned to the endangered species list.