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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com
Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

Survey says Wisconsin residents don’t want wolf population curtailed

PATRICK DURKIN For the State Journal

Hunting groups demanding Wisconsin slash its wolf population to 350 didn’t get the answers they coveted this week when the Department of Natural Resources released the results of a landmark survey the groups’ representatives helped design.

The survey (http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/wolf/documents/WolfAttitudeSurveyReportDRAFT.pdf), released Tuesday afternoon, found most state residents hold positive views toward wolves. Although support was strongest in areas without wolves – a finding consistent with most national and international research in recent years – residents in Wisconsin’s wolf country also held more positive than negative views toward the controversial carnivore.

Granted, the survey was not a vote or referendum on efforts to drop wolf numbers to 350. In fact, no question asked if respondents supported or opposed a 350-wolf goal.

But when asked about the wolf population – estimated at 675 statewide this past winter after two hunting/trapping seasons, down from about 850 in 2012 – 40 percent of wolf-country respondents favored maintaining wolves at current levels in their county, and 13 percent favored increasing the number. In contrast, 18 percent wanted a decrease and 15 percent wanted wolves eliminated.

In contrast, 29 percent of residents outside wolf country favored maintaining wolves at current levels, and 27 percent favored increases.

Further, 84 percent of respondents outside wolf country and 67 percent in wolf country agreed that wolves are important members of the “ecological community.”

The statewide survey was conducted by DNR researchers Robert Holsman, Natalie Kaner and Jordan Petchenik. To ensure people living near wolves were “heard,” the researchers sent 7,150 surveys to homes in wolf country and 1,600 to homes outside wolf country.

Holsman reviewed the survey’s results Wednesday in Wausau with the state’s Wolf Advisory Committee, whose members are appointed by DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp. In revamping the committee in 2013, Stepp removed representatives from wolf-advocacy and anti-hunting groups, as well as several DNR and University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife experts.

The committee – chaired by David MacFarland, the DNR’s large-carnivore ecologist – includes 10 DNR biologists, six representatives of state hunting/trapping groups, three federal biologists, one county forester, a Chippewa tribal biologist, a Timber Wolf Alliance biologist, and a representative of the Wisconsin Cattleman’s Association.

Holsman told the 23-member committee that the survey sample of 8,750 was the largest he’s participated in during his 20-year career, much of it at UW-Stevens Point. The sampling was conducted in March and April.

“We were tasked with conducting a hallmark public-opinion survey that gives a scientifically accurate view of public opinion on wolves in Wisconsin,” Holsman said while beginning his nearly hour-long review. “This questionnaire was as rigorously and thoroughly pre-tested as any instrument I’ve ever been part of. You were part of that. This group was instrumental in developing the methods we used. You helped shape it with focus groups and pre-testing and so forth.”

During the question-and-answer session that followed, some of the committee’s hunting/trapping representatives accused the DNR of slanting the survey to generate support for wolves. Holsman reminded them that they helped craft the study and approved its questions. “I’m real confident this survey accurately measured what’s out there,” he said.

Holsman also said the survey was reviewed by five national/international experts in human-dimensions research during its development, with one reviewer saying the survey’s large sampling numbers were “overkill” for a statewide survey.

When hunting representatives questioned the survey’s 59 percent response rate, Holsman said it was nearly double – even triple – the response of many mail surveys in recent studies of natural resources. He said he’s confident it will pass further scientific review before it’s made final.

The survey also found general support for Wisconsin’s hunting/trapping season on wolves, with 40 percent supporting it to reduce wolf numbers and 26 supporting it as long as it’s sustainable, while 21 percent opposed the season and 17 percent were undecided.

When asked about wolf-management priorities, 69 percent favor killing wolves that threaten or show aggression toward humans, 53 percent favor eliminating wolves from areas where they attack livestock, and 33 percent favor creating refuges to protect wolves.

It’s also clear that many residents dislike or fear wolves. A majority – 63 percent in wolf country and 64 percent outside wolf country – believe wolves pose safety risks to children. Even more believe wolves pose safety risks to pets, 72 percent in and 70 percent outside.

However, people outside wolf country had more safety worries about bears, 59 percent, than wolves, 33 percent; while hunters had more safety worries about wolves, 49 percent outside wolf country, than they did for bears, 37 percent in wolf country and 46 percent outside wolf country.

In fact, deer hunters, as a group, had more wolf fears than non-hunters, urbanites, rural residents and other groups. When asked if they worry about their personal safety while outdoors in wolf country, 54 percent of deer hunters in wolf country said yes, as did 49 percent outside wolf country.

Holsman and MacFarland said the 180-page report of the survey’s results will be used to “inform” the agency, the Wolf Advisory Committee and the Natural Resources Board as the state updates its wolf-management plan in the months ahead.

Those hoping the survey would provide clear, simple findings to ease their tasks are surely disappointed. But they should take heart: It’s far easier to validate then survey’s numbers than it is to confirm wolf-population estimates.

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