New email alert system to recent wolf activity available
Madison (News Release) – Dog trainers, pet owners and others interested in keeping track of recent wolf activity can now sign up for an e-mail or wireless service that will send an alert anytime wolves attack hunting dogs or pets.
The new feature relies on an easy-to-use service called GovDelivery. From the DNR home page search for “dog depredation by wolves” and follow the simple instructions for subscribing to the alerts. It is possible to unsubscribe at anytime.
The alert will be sent to a subscriber’s e-mail and/or wireless addresses of choice and will include a link to details of 2010 depredations and a caution map based on the location of any attacks.
Wisconsin’s dog training season opens July 1 and runs through August 31 leading up to the opening of the 2010 Wisconsin Black Bear Hunting season on Sept. 8. The bear hunting season runs through Oct. 12. It is legal during this training period for hunters with a class A or B bear hunting license to train dogs on wild bear on public property open to bear-dog training.
“This new system will give dog trainers rapid alerts to problem areas with information that can help them avoid attacks on their dogs,” said, Adrian Wydeven, wolf ecologist for the Department of Natural Resources. “We will post new alerts just as soon as attacks are confirmed. We’ll also continue to maintain our wolf alert web pages with documentation of all attacks throughout the current season.”
Wolves with pups leave the den area where the pups were born and occupy one or more rendezvous sites within the pack territory during summer months. A wolf pack changes rendezvous sites somewhat unpredictably but will defend the current site and pups from any hunting dogs that get too close.
Alerts on other topics are also available through the GovDelivery feature. At the DNR home page select “Subscribe to DNR Updates” and select the topics you want to follow.
Wisconsin’s closely monitored wolf population continues to grow
Wisconsin’s gray wolf population at the close of the 2009-2010 winter is estimated to be 690 to 733, a roughly 10 percent increase over the 2008-2009 end-of-winter estimate.
Wolves continue to be listed as endangered in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has attempted to remove the wolf from this list in portions of the Great Lakes states, so that management of the wolf could be handed over to the states.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources submitted a petition to the Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging them to complete the delisting process and return management authority to the state. So far, attempts to delist the wolf have been blocked by the courts.
The annual winter wolf count relies on aerial tracking of radio-collared wolves, trail cameras, and snow track surveys by DNR and volunteer trackers. Also included are wolf sightings by members of the public. The agency has conducted these counts since the winter of 1979-1980 when there were 25 wolves in the state.
A total of 180 wolf packs were detected in Wisconsin during the winter count consisting of at least 2 adult wolves each. Biologists found 30 packs distributed across central Wisconsin and 150 packs in northern Wisconsin. The largest packs in the state were the Moose Road Pack Douglas County with 11 wolves, the Crotte Creek Pack in Douglas County with 9 wolves and the McArther Pine Pack in Forest County with 9 wolves. At least 52 packs had 5 or more wolves in them.
The Wisconsin wolf population is considered to be one of the most closely monitored and managed animal species in the nation, according to Adrian Wydeven, a DNR conservation biologist and wolf specialist.