Written by Kathleen Gray
Detroit Free Press
LANSING — Gray wolves beware!
The state Senate by a 23-15 vote, approved the creation of an open hunting season on the wolves.
Gray wolves were put on the endangered species list in 1973 when the population in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula had dwindled to six on the isolated Isle Royale. With the designation, the population had grown to nearly 700 by 2011.
The wolves were removed from the endangered species list in January, but only the Department of Natural Resources is allowed to manage the wolf population, which has begun to encroach upon U.P. towns. The animals also are having a big impact on the Upper Peninsula’s deer population, killing between 17,000 and 29,000 deer every year, according to a report from the DNR.
The Michigan Humane Society opposes the legislation, preferring non-lethal means of solving any conflict between humans and wolves, rather than an open hunting season on the wolves.
“They just came off the endangered species list,” said Kevin Hatman, spokesman of the society. “There have been no reported human fatalities from gray wolves, so establishing a hunting season seems like using a sledge hammer on the problem.”
The bill calls for the DNR to establish the hunting season and a $100 license for the season for residents and $500 for non-residents.
In nearby Minnesota, which has a wolf population of 2,900, the state issued 6,000 licenses in 2012 and is anticipating that 400 wolves will be killed by hunters, according to an analysis of the Michigan bill by the Senate Fiscal Agency.