State again seeks to strip protection for gray wolves
By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin again asked federal authorities on Tuesday to remove the gray wolf, whose population is soaring, from the endangered species list.
The state Department of Natural Resources petitioned the U.S. Department of Interior to reclassify wolves so authorities could use lethal means to control the burgeoning population.
The winter population estimate jumped 12% to 700 to 750 wolves in Wisconsin, according to state figures, the highest population for wolves since pre-settlement times.
But as their numbers have grown, wolves have increasingly become a flash point of controversy among farmers, hunters, landowners and animal rights groups.
Since 1985 the state has paid out $894,119 to those who have lost dogs and livestock from depredating wolves.
Owners of hunting hounds alone have been paid $341,000 for the deaths of 153 dogs – mostly bear hunting dogs.
Wolf numbers now total more than 4,000 in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. In Wisconsin, numbers are far above federal goals set in the early 1990s.
“The gray wolf in Wisconsin is clearly not in danger of extinction now, nor is it likely to be in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future,” wrote DNR Secretary Matthew J. Frank.
Wisconsin’s decision follows a petition filed by Minnesota in March asking the Interior Department to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered or threatened species. Michigan authorities also have sided with the actions but haven’t filed a formal petition.
This is the third time that steps have been taken to allow Wisconsin to reduce protections for the wolf. Since 2007, the wolf has been declassified from its endangered status for a total of 21 months.
But animal rights groups have protested the actions and twice have persuaded federal courts to return protections.
On Tuesday, Howard Goldman, Minnesota state director of the Humane Society of the United States, who tracks wolf issues in Wisconsin, said his organization would likely again challenge the action.
Though the wolf population has risen sharply in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the gray wolf can be found on only 5% of its native habitat, Goldman said.
“We believe the wolf should be protected across the country,” Goldman said.
He noted that of the thousands of farms in Wisconsin, fewer than 100 have ever had problems with wolves.
An Interior Department decision could take months or more, prompting the DNR, in a separate action on Monday, to ask for interim authority to use lethal controls on wolves that have killed livestock and other animals.
Wisconsin has had such authority in the past but lost it after losses in court. Thirty-two wolves were killed in 2005 and 18 were killed in 2006.
Adrian Wydeven, a DNR wolf ecologist, said his agency hopes the Interior Department, and potentially the courts, will see the issue differently this time.
Wisconsin and Minnesota are arguing that wolves in the two states and Michigan are a distinct population group.
Wolves from Minnesota recolonized in northwestern Wisconsin in 1974 and 1975. Prior to that, there had been no record of wolves in Wisconsin since 1960.
George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said the lack of controls had allowed the population to explode and had exacerbated tensions over wolves.
A 2009 study by Adrian Treves, of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that as many as 17% of hunters in wolf range were willing to illegally shoot wolves.