Thriving gray wolf population wreaks havoc on Wisconsin farms
BY ROBERT IMRIE
WAUSAU, Wis. — A new estimate shows Wisconsin’s gray wolf population may have grown to as many as 455 animals, far exceeding the goal set by state game managers and raising concerns about more conflicts between the predators and humans.
‘We are glad the wolf population is doing well,’ Adrian Wydeven, coordinator of the wolf program for the state Department of Natural Resources, said Wednesday. ‘We are concerned there are some wolves in packs spreading into some areas where they are causing more problems.’
The latest estimate indicates the wolf population grew 14 percent in a year and is nearly 100 over the DNR’s management goal.
The DNR said that in 2004, wolves killed livestock on 22 farms, compared with 14 farms in 2003 and eight in 2002. Last year, 24 problem wolves were legally killed, compared with 17 in 2003. The agency has permits to kill up to 34 this year.
‘I think we have lost some public support already because of the growth of the population,’ Wydeven said in a telephone interview from Park Falls. ‘I believe there has been some erosion of tolerance. There is some risk that illegal killing [of wolves] could increase.’
Predators kill dogs
Eric Koens, who has a herd of about 100 beef cattle in Rusk County and is a director with the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, said big problems loom because northern Wisconsin keeps losing wolf habitat to development at the same time the wolf population is growing.
‘You see them all over. They are like stray dogs,’ he said. ‘People cannot even let their dog out to take a leak at night. They are attacked and killed. It is a sad situation.’
The wolf is a native species that was wiped out in Wisconsin by the late 1950s after decades of bounty hunting. Since the animal was granted protection as an endangered species during the mid-1970s, wolves migrated into the state from Minnesota and their numbers have been growing ever since.