Wisconsin gets OK to kill wolves
WILDLIFE:A special rule allows up to 34 problem wolves to be trapped and killed, despite a judge’s order.
BY JOHN MYERS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted Wisconsin special permits to once again kill problem wolves trapped near where livestock or pets have been attacked.
The special permits come in spite of a federal judge’s ruling in January that the federal effort to upgrade Wisconsin wolves from threatened to endangered violates federal law.
The court decision, released Jan. 31 in Oregon, meant that wolves outside Minnesota and Alaska remained endangered, and that trappers had to relocate — not kill — wolves near farms where animals had been attacked.
But federal biologists said Wednesday that they’re using a separate, little-used part of the Endangered Species Act to allow government trappers to kill up to 34 wolves in Wisconsin this year.
“We don’t think we’ll make the judge angry on this one. This is a separate part of the law, and we’re not simply trying to go around the decision,” said Ron Refsnider, wolf expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin now has about 400 adult wolves, said Adrian Wydeven, wolf biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Last year, federal trappers killed24 wolves near sites where livestock and pets had been killed; 17 wolves were destroyed in 2003.
Wydeven said the restored leeway to kill wolves is good news as northern farmers near calving season. In recent days, attacks on a dog in Bayfield County and a horse near Hayward would have spurred trapping efforts. But biologists have been reluctant to trap wolves if they had to be relocated.
“Relocating wolves in this age in Wisconsin is not a viable option. Having the ability to euthanize some wolves is a much better option for everyone involved,” Wydeven said, noting people and native wolves near places where problem wolves are relocated don’t like the newcomers. Moving wolves to other areas raises public animosity and can be fatal for the wolves, which often are attacked by resident packs.
The situation doesn’t affect trapping and killing problem wolves in Minnesota, where wolves have long been classified as threatened and more than 100 are killed by federal trappers near farms each year. Minnesota has about 3,000 wolves.
In April 2003, the Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the wolf’s status across much of the lower 48 states, saying they effectively had recovered wherever populations were socially viable. The move allowed killing problem wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan for the first time in decades.
But U.S. District Judge Robert Jones disagreed, siding with environmental groups that claim healthy wolf populations in the Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains don’t justify the removal of wolf protections in areas such as Maine, Oregon and Washington.
Unless Jones’ decision is overturned, Wisconsin will need to get special permits to kill wolves each year.
Refsnider said his agency has made no decision on whether to appeal Jones’ decision. The appeal deadline is in June, he said.