MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Hunters and trappers would be allowed to kill dozens more wolves this fall under new quotas released Tuesday by Wisconsin wildlife officials.
The Department of Natural Resources has proposed a statewide quota of 275 wolves across six zones for the state’s second hunt, which begins in mid-October and runs through the end of February. The state’s Chippewa tribes would be entitled to 115 of those wolves, leaving 160 for nontribal hunters and trappers. The agency wants to issue 2,750 permits, or 10 permits for every wolf.
That compares with a statewide total of 201 wolves and 2,010 permits for last year’s inaugural hunt. The Chippewa were entitled to 85 wolves, but the tribes are adamantly opposed to hunting wolves and didn’t kill a single one. The DNR closed the season two months early in December after nontribal hunters and trappers took 117 wolves, one more than their quota.
The DNR estimated as many as 834 wolves roamed the state this winter, down from as many as 880 last winter. The agency’s wolf management plan calls for a total population of 350 animals. If the new quota is reached, the number of vehicle collisions and illegal kills remain unchanged from 2012 and depredation kills decrease by half to reflect fewer wolves, humans would have killed about 44 percent of the total population in 2013, the DNR estimated. Achieving the kill quota alone could reduce the population by up to 23 percent, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison models.
DNR Ecology Section Chief Bill Vander Zouwen said last year’s hunt did little to shrink the population and the agency wants to move closer to its 350-animal goal.
“We do want to make some progress reducing the wolf population,” he said. “A quota of 275 would do that.”
The proposal mirrors recommendations from the DNR’s wolf advisory committee, a group of stakeholders that guides the DNR’s policy team. The Natural Resources Board is expected to vote on the quotas and permit levels at a June 26 meeting in Wausau. Board chairman Preston Cole didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment on the proposal Tuesday.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a law in April 2012 establishing a wolf hunt in the state. The hunt quickly evolved into one of the most contentious outdoor issues Wisconsin has grappled with since the discovery of chronic wasting disease in its deer herd in 2002.
Farmers tired of wolves preying on their livestock applauded the hunt. Conservationists and animal rights advocates complained the state’s wolf population is too fragile to support a hunt and Wisconsin hunters already have enough animals to kill and should leave the majestic wolf alone. A group of humane societies filed a lawsuit challenging provisions of the law that allow dogs to track wolves.
Sue Erickson, a spokeswoman for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the Chippewa’s off-reservation rights, declined to comment about the new quotas Tuesday, but she said the tribes believe people shouldn’t kill wolves for sport.
Melissa Smith, organizer of the group Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf, called the quota reckless in an email to The Associated Press. She said she supports targeted hunts in areas where wolves threaten livestock, but she believes wolves are “too delicate of a species to have a general hunt.”
She also maintained that the DNR hasn’t consulted any people “who wish to see wolves alive rather than dead.” She said the agency simply wants to protect the state’s deer herd from wolf attacks in order to ensure the state’s billion-dollar deer hunting industry remains viable.
“The hatred for this animal all comes down to them being ‘competition’ for deer,” she wrote. “What a joke … I guess having an ecological disaster is worth it so some slob can get that ‘trophy buck.'”
The DNR’s Vander Zouwen, who leads the wolf advisory committee, said the group wants a sustainable wolf population.
“I would consider that pro-wolf,” he said, “but I understand some people don’t think any should be killed.”