By: News Tribune staff, Duluth News Tribune
A group called Howling for Wolves is seeking to stop Minnesota’s first managed wolf hunting and trapping season this fall. The organization, which has no paid membership, is based in Hopkins, Minn. It has filed a request for Department of Natural Resources correspondence on wolf management under the state’s Data Practices Act. It also has paid for a billboard in the Twin Cities calling for support to stop the wolf season.
Howling for Wolves has not ruled out a lawsuit to stop the hunt but is focusing on a public campaign, said Maureen Hackett of Minnetonka, Minn., who is founder and president of the group. Hackett said she hopes public sentiment will persuade the DNR to stop the wolf hunting and trapping season.
“People want to stop the hunt, and they don’t know how,” Hackett said.
She said the state is overlooking other ways to manage wolves so that they don’t attack livestock.
“To think a random hunt is going to help with wolf-livestock problems is misguided,” Hackett said.
She suggested the state look at non-lethal predator control to protect livestock “such as the use of specialized dogs scaring the wolves just by being present.”
The DNR says it has no plans to curtail the hunt, which opens Nov. 3.
“The organization (Howling for Wolves) hasn’t been shy about the fact they’re opposed to the wolf season,” said Steve Merchant, wildlife programs population manager for the DNR. “They’re continuing their quest to stop or delay it. We’re not surprised by that.
“This group is apparently opposed to the taking of any individual wolves, and that’s not compatible with the use of a natural resource,” Merchant said. “Wolves are a renewable natural resource. It is, in one sense, no different than any other species of wildlife we harvest or any other renewable natural resource, like trees, for instance.”