Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Wants Wolves Delisted
Wisconsin Ag Connection
The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation is circulating a citizen petition in support of delisting the gray wolf from the endangered species list.
WWF Director George Meyer told the The Lakeland Times that it is critically important that the Secretary of the Interior and the Wisconsin delegation are fully aware of the strong public support in Wisconsin for delisting the wolf.
In the first three circulation days of the WWF citizen petition, 1,600 signatures were obtained when it was introduced at a national trappers convention in Marshfield last month. Meyer says its their goal to obtain at least 10,000 signatures on the petition by the end of the year.
The group says wolf depredation on livestock and pets has sharply increased in 10 years. According to the DNR, depredation occurred on six Wisconsin farms in 1999, compared with 29 in 2009. Three wolves were illegally killed in 1999, while 18 illegal wolf killings were reported last year.
Wisconsin’s gray wolf population at the close of the 2009-10 winter was estimated to be 690 to 733 outside Indian reservations, roughly a 10 percent increase over the 2008-09 end-of-winter estimate.