by RALPH MAUGHAN
State’s first wolf hunt will no longer include any trapping-Michigan plans to have its first wolf hunt this fall. It will be in three parts (units) of the state’s Upper Peninsula (the U.P.).
The original wolf hunt plan approved included trapping as well as shooting the wolves, but that has now been dropped. Hunt sponsors say that this is to begin the wolf killing in a conservative fashion. The hunt will have a quota of 43 wolves.
When the wolf hunt was first announced, opponents of the hunt quickly got enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. However, hunt supporters responded with Public Act 21. This made the petition for a public vote moot by changing the way wolves were classified. Wolves would now be a game animal and so subject to hunting.
Wolves began to return to Michigan in 1989. Today there are estimated to be about 650. Some call this growth astonishing, but this seems more a matter of opinion than an objective fact. All of the wolves are thought to be in the U.P., which is separated from the rest of Michigan and is adjacent to Wisconsin on the opposite side of Lake Michigan from the rest of the state.
Opponents of the hunt are gathering signatures on a second petition since the first one, a success, was rendered meaningless by the state legislature. ”Keep Michigan Wolves Protected” is organizing efforts to get names on the new petition. The wolf hunt slated for mid-November 2013 will no longer be affected by a petition. The effort here has moved to stopping the 2014 wolf hunt.