Wolves sometimes roam south in search of land

Creatures usually scared of humans

By CORRINNE HESS – GM Today Staff

WAUKESHA – A dead wolf found in
Oconomowoc marked the third time in three years a wolf has been
killed between Milwaukee and Madison.

Wolves migrating to populated areas of southern Wisconsin are
still rare, but no longer impossible, wildlife experts say.

“As people move into the wild, the wild moves in with
people,” said Judy Budnick, executive director of the Wildlife
in Need Center in the town of Ottawa. “We’ve been watching
the wolves’ movement around the state. We’ve seen them move from
the north to the central part of the state and now to the southern
part of the state.”

An 85-pound male wolf was hit and killed by a car April 24 near Highway 67 in Oconomowoc.

In April 2002 a male wolf was killed in Middleton and in March
2001, a female wolf was killed near Johnson Creek in Jefferson
County.

“I would suspect the Oconomowoc wolf is an isolated
incident,” Budnick said. “But it does cause pause for
thought.”

Adrian Wydeven, wolf project manager with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said it is typical for young male wolves to leave their pack and search for new territory.

“There are 80 to 90 packs in Wisconsin and similar numbers
in Michigan,” Wydeven said. “There is just no place for
them to go, so they start traveling.”

Wydeven said other wild animals typically found in northern Wisconsin are migrating south to find land, including bears and bobcats.

In 1999, the DNR tracked a female wolf with a satellite collar.
In less than a year the wolf left her central Minnesota home, crisscrossed Wisconsin – walking through 26 counties – and went back
to Minnesota.

In late 1999 the DNR found the wolf’s collar, leading them to
believe she had been killed.

“During the entire time she roamed the state we only had
three observations,” Wydeven said. “It seems we are
getting more legitimate sightings, but people are still mistaking
coyotes and wolf-dog hybrids for wolves.”

The wolf-dog hybrids are more dangerous to humans than wolves because they have the same characteristics without the fear of humans, said Nancy Dowler, president of the Timber Wolf Preservation
Society in Franklin.

“Wolves are extremely fearful of man,” Dowler said.
“That’s why it’s unusual to see them in the wild. They
might peek at you, but you won’t see them. They would rather take
flight than fight.”

Wydeven agreed, saying there hasn’t been a documented case of a human being killed by a wild wolf in North America in 100 years.

“Bears and cougars are much more likely to attack,”
Wydeven said. “And even that is rare.”

Wolf
facts

• Threatened in the lower 48
  states except for areas in the Southwest where they are
  endangered

• Number of wolves in
  Wisconsin in 2002: 327 to 342

• Average height: 2.5 feet
  high.

• Average weight: 50 to 100
  pounds; average for adult males is 75 pounds, average
  for adult females is 60 pounds.

• Wolves are afraid of
  people, who are the animal’s only predator.

• Wolves breed once a year
  and have a litter of four to six pups

Source: Department of
Natural Resources, www.dnr.state.wi.us

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Arizona takes over as lead manager of wolf program

By Tom Jackson King, Managing Editor

The Arizona Game and Fish Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service have agreed that AGF will now be the lead agency in implementing
“day-to-day” decisions of the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program in
Arizona. Brian Kelly, Mexican gray wolf recovery coordinator for USFWS,
said agreements signed with AGF on Dec. 4 put the state agency in the
forefront of a multi-agency cooperative effort to bring back the
endangered species of wolves to original habitats in Arizona and New
Mexico.

“The implementation day-to-day would be by Arizona,” Kelly said.

“What this basic agreement says is the state of Arizona has the lead in
this. It doesn’t mean the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish goes
away. We’re working out the details.”

In September 2002 both the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission sent letters to USFWS complaining about a lack of communication with the states
on things such as releasing new wolves and responding to complaints of
wolf attacks on livestock.

The AGF Commission went further and gave the
agency a 60-day notice to respond by Dec. 1 — or else. Joe Carter, an AGF
commissioner from Safford, said Arizona would review its continued
participation in the wolf reintroduction program, but he did not go so far
as to call for the pullout of Arizona from the controversial program.

Now,
it appears the Dec. 4 meeting of the AGF Commission, attended by USFWS
staff and AGF staff, has developed an option that will keep Arizona
involved in the wolf program.

The revised final plan agreed to by USFWS Director H. Dale Hall on Dec. 4 sets out the following changes:

• The
  service (USFWS) will disband the current Mexican Wolf Recovery Team and
  assemble a new one to revise the outdated current plan.

• The service
  will focus its Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator (B. Kelly) on guiding and
  implementing the recovery program, thus providing appropriate guidance to
  the reintroduction project.

• The states shall be responsible for
  implementing the reintroduction project in Arizona and New Mexico.

• The
  reintroduction project shall be implemented on the ground through a
  state-led field team approach.

• The states and tribes are responsible
  for conducting reintroduction efforts in such a manner that they
  contribute directly to recovery.

• The primary cooperators will complete
  this effort before March 31, 2003, through appropriate collaboration with
  tribal and other interested parties.

The tribal involvement will include the White Mountain Apache Tribe as a
partner since the tribe has given permission for release of wolves in its
territory.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe has refused such permission and has
several times asked USFWS to capture and remove wolves that have wandered
onto tribal land near Malay Gap. Kelly was upbeat about the change in
leadership roles.

“This represents a wonderful opportunity to clarify our
program and to get us all on the same page. It’s a good thing,” he said.

“We’re very much in agreement with what the states want to do. It’s not
cutting out any other cooperators. It will still be a collaborative
process that WMAT, Wildlife Services, Forest Service and New Mexico
Department of Game and Fish have a voice in.”

The next meeting of the
advisory group on the wolf program will be in Clifton in February and will
be attended by state, federal and rural representatives, he said.

Still,
the new approach puts Arizona in the front row of directing the
reintroduction part of the program.

“The day-to-day implementation of the
program will be by the head of one of the states. That head position for
Arizona Game and Fish, representing the whole field team, will not cut
anyone out,” Kelly said.

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