By Heidi Clausen, Regional Editor
STONE LAKE — Revenue generated via application and license sales in the 2012 Wisconsin wolf-hunting season will help compensate farmers who have lost livestock as a result of wolf depredation.
David Ruid, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said 117 wolves were harvested last year in Wisconsin.
The approximately $289,000 raised through fees will be used to reimburse producers for livestock they’ve lost to wolf attacks.
“There’s an earmark now for compensation,” Ruid said. “Claims won’t be paid until the next year when they know what revenue was generated. If you have a loss today, you won’t get a check until 2014.”
Wolf-damage compensation amounted to $300,000 in 2012 (based on the 2011 grazing season), compared to $200,000 two years before, Ruid said.
“Much of that is missing livestock,” he said in an update on wolf depredation during an April 3 cow/calf meeting in Stone Lake.
Other changes for 2013 include a new cap on missing livestock, he said. Farmers with one depredation can only claim up to five missing calves.
Also new this year, farmers who have a depredation and want compensation or a permit to control wolves must enroll their property in the state wolf program, which allows hunters to hunt or trap wolves there in season.
The 2013 wolf-hunting season is set to start Oct. 15, but Ruid said legislation has been introduced to change this date to coincide with the opener of the recreational trapping season, which is the last Saturday in October. A move also has been made to lower license fees.
Ruid said a court battle regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s delisting of wolves is likely to begin soon.
The Humane Society of the U.S. and others filed a lawsuit in February against the USFWS in an effort to overturn the removal of wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the Endangered Species Act. The 60-day notice of intent ends this month.
Wolves in this region were removed from federal protection in January 2012 after exceeding population goals. Management was turned over to state agencies at that time.
‘Point of saturation’
Ruid said last winter’s minimum count showed an estimated 815 wolves in 220 packs, mostly across northern Wisconsin. This winter’s count isn’t yet complete.
But studies suggest this estimate may be as much as 15 percent too low, he said.
“That’s the bare-bones minimum,” he said. “We’re reaching a point of saturation” in northern Wisconsin, and as wolf population density has increased, pack territory size has shrunk.
There were 184 complaints regarding conflicts with wolves in Wisconsin last year. The 10-year average is 166, said Ruid, who spends about 70 percent of his time on the job dealing with wolf conflicts in northern Wisconsin.
“About 50 percent of the time when we go out, there is evidence of wolves being involved in the conflict,” he said.
Ruid said 40 percent of all wolf complaints in 2011 came from Douglas and Bayfield counties, and 85 percent of them were between April and October.
Numerous complaints also came from Ashland County. The Marengo area is home to many large cow-calf producers surrounded by prime wolf habitat.
Ruid said 36 farms had verified livestock depredation last year; the all-time high was 47 in 2010. Depredations in 2012 included 53 head of cattle (mostly beef calves), one sheep and nine fowl. One farm lost a dozen calves last year, he said.
“They can cause an awful lot of problems for an individual producer in an individual grazing season,” he said. “Generally, it’s the larger farms that are chronic farms.”
Ruid said about 20 head fewer cattle were lost last year than 2011 at least in part because of the ability to lethally control wolves.
Between 1974 and 2012, wolves preyed on 547 head of cattle, 85 sheep and 16 horses in the state, Ruid said.
Several factors play into the level of wolf depredation each year, he said. Depredations drop off toward the end of May when fawns are born, but attacks double in the two-week period in the spring when wolf pups are born.
“All of a sudden, there are a lot of mouths to feed,” he said.
Ruid said an all-time high of 57 wolves were captured for depredation/conflict purposes in Wisconsin last year. The next closest year was 2008, when 39 wolves were captured.
Between 1974 and 2012, 312 wolves were captured, he said. Of those, 253 were killed to resolve conflicts with people, livestock or pets.
Ruid added that over the past half-dozen years, about five to 10 collared and uncollared wolves have been killed illegally during the deer-hunting season.
Recovery not diminished
“This has not had an impact on the recovery of wolves in Wisconsin,” Ruid said.
When applied selectively and effectively, lethal control makes a big difference in keeping wolf numbers at bay, he said.
“Quick and efficient removal of wolves has not eliminated or reduced the recovery of wolves in the state of Wisconsin or the Midwest,” he said.
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan are home to a combined 5,000 wolves, Ruid said. The number of wolves removed due to conflict with people or livestock typically amounts to less than 5 percent of the previous winter’s minimum count.
Calling wolves a “reproductive motor,” averaging six pups per litter, he said the wolf population can sustain about 35 percent mortality before there’s a marked decrease in numbers.
Producers can take some steps to ward wolves away from their livestock, including the use of guard animals and properly disposing of livestock carcasses so they don’t attract hungry predators.
Bringing cattle closer to farm buildings at calving times also helps, but it isn’t foolproof, Ruid said. “We have verified calves killed next to barns.”