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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

Wolf cases now up to three

Wolf cases now up to three

By RALPH ANSAMI

Globe News Editor

Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials who had been
investigating two wolf killings in the Ironwood area now have a third case
on their hands.

A recent report from the DNR indicated conservation officers Phil
Wolbrink, David Painter, Brett Gustafson and Det. Michael Johnson are
investigating an illegal wolf killing discovered around the end of May in
the Ironwood area. There was also a June 8 report of a wolf killing a
month-old calf in the area.

Grant Emery, a DNR conservation officer who recently transferred to
Ironwood, is also investigating the latest wolf death, a spokesman for the
DNR’s Crystal Falls office said this morning. Further information on the
case hasn’t been released by the DNR.

Late last year, the DNR said $3,000 rewards were being offered for
information in six open cases involving the illegal killing of wolves in
the U.P., including the following two Gogebic County:

–On Nov. 16, officers responded to a mortality signal from a tracking
collar and found a dead wolf in the Black River, north of Powderhorn
Mountain, in Gogebic County.

–On Nov. 6, a female wolf was found dead of gunshot wounds eight miles
north of Ironwood, in the Little Girl’s Point area.

Several Ironwood area residents have been interviewed by DNR and federal
investigators in the past six months regarding the Gogebic County wolf
killings.

The most recent MDNR survey indicates there are at least 321 wolves
roaming the U.P. Since 1989, the wolf population has increased every year,
except 1997, when a small decline was noted.

Last winter, biologists spent more than 2,000 hours conducting the latest
wolf survey, using tracking, aerial observations of packs with
radio-collared wolves, and other evidence to determine the population
estimate.

The MDNR regularly monitors about 40 wolves that have been fitted with
radio collars to determine their movements and survival.

DNR biologist Dean Beyer said wolves were found in all UP counties except
Keweenaw. “We had found wolves in Keweenaw County in the past,” Beyer
said.

The U.P. wolf population has grown nearly 15 percent from 278 animals last
year.

“A recent change in the federal classification of wolves improves
Michigan’s ability to manage the animals,” said Pat Lederle, DNR
Endangered Species Program Coordinator. “In early April, the federal
government reclassified wolves from ‘endangered’ status to ‘threatened’
status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.”

Federal reclassification provides flexibility in managing the growing wolf
population in Michigan and Wisconsin by allowing wildlife managers to
euthanize problem wolves, especially to the livestock industry.

“Although it is doubtful such actions would be common, the DNR will use
lethal control if it becomes absolutely necessary,” Lederle said. “The
majority of our residents have welcomed the increasing wolf population,
yet we must remain sensitive to human attitudes and not allow the animal’s
natural activity to cause ill feelings with people, especially in the
agricultural community.”

Those experiencing wolf depredation are directed to call the DNR Report
All Poaching hotline at 1-800-292-7800, instead of the local DNR office.
The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day.

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