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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

State Wolf Numbers Rise By 26-Percent Since Last Year

State Wolf Numbers Rise By 26-Percent Since Last Year

Wisconsin Ag Connection – 05/26/2009

Wisconsin farmers and hunting advocates are both keeping a close eye on the state’s wolf population, which Department of Natural Resource officials say is up by 26-percent since last year. According to the latest numbers from the agency, the total number of gray wolves went from about 550 animals in the winter of 2007 to around 680 a year later. That’s said to be the largest increase since the 1970s, when wolves began migrating back into the state from Minnesota and Michigan.

The DNR’s Adrian Wydeven says the rise is mainly due to severe winter weather conditions that made it easier for wolves to kill deer.

Meanwhile, a solution on how to control the wolf population has been in the middle of a legal battle in recent years. Several states, including Wisconsin, approved special wolf hunts after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed them from the endangered species list. But a federal judge reinstated the protections last October. That ruling has since been overturned again and the protections were removed as of this month.

Minnesota and Michigan are also reporting larger wolf numbers this year.

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