By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms. During Wisconsin's first public wolf hunt in February, hunters killed wolves, according to new research by the University of Wisconsin -Madison.
The hunt was not supposed to be legal until November , but a pro-hunting group sued and won , allowing the hunt to take place in February. Wildlife officials were forced to end the legal hunt after only three days, according to HuffPost. Gray wolves were dropped from the endangered list by the U.
Ex-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said that, at the time, the wolves "exceeded all conservation goals for recovery," according to HuffPost. Since the gray wolf's removal from the Endangered Species Act, conservation goals are generally at the discretion of individual states, although they must submit five-year monitoring plans to the U.
Fish and Wildlife Service, according to HuffPost. Adrain Treves, the lead author of the study and an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin, said that the study's findings should raise concerns for future hunting seasons in the state, according to HuffPost. In the Spring of , there were at least 1, wolves in Wisconsin. The deaths brought the total number of wolves between and , according to The Associated Press. Between April and April , to gray wolves were killed by humans — a majority of them killed during the February public hunt.
The targeted amount of wolves to kill for population control was How far we went over goal was not necessarily our objective. The short hunting season came to be after the U. Since , Wisconsin state law requires a wolf hunt to be held between November and February if the animals are not endangered.
But a court order obtained by Kansas-based hunter advocacy group Hunter Nation forced the hunt to proceed in February, Danielle Kaeding reports for Wisconsin Public Radio. The DNR sought to appeal the decision, but their request was dismissed. The quota for the wolf hunt was set at wolves total, and 81 were allocated to the Ojibwe tribes because of their treaty rights to half of licenses planned for ceded lands. Dylan Jennings, spokesperson for the Great Lakes Indian, Fish and Wildlife Commission declined to comment on whether the tribes had used or would use their wolf hunting permits.
But the Commission opposed the hunt and in the past, tribes had claimed permits without using them in order to protect wolves. It allows trapping and snaring wolves on private property year-round, and each hunter can purchase an unlimited number of tags for killing the predators.
Some of this money can be given to individuals as reimbursement for expenses accrued killing wolves, which many critics see as a return to the bounty-hunting system that led to the near-elimination of wolves from the Lower 48 in the early 20th century. Is the gray wolf still endangered?
Depends who you ask. The bill was opposed by many organizations that traditionally support hunting, including the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Idaho Sportsmen group. This is a needed bill. Scientific studies of wolves and their impact on their ecosystem, however, reveal a very different reality.
For instance, elk numbers in Idaho are well above ,, according to state agencies—about what they were, or higher, than when wolves were first reintroduced to the state. Research in Yellowstone National Park has clearly shown that wolves can help improve the health of elk herds by reducing disease and creating more resilient populations.
Moreover, overpopulation of elk is a problem in several areas of Idaho where wolf numbers are lower. Elk often eat large quantities of crops, leading the state to reimburse farmers large sums in some cases, says Garrick Dutcher , research and program director for Living with Wolves, an Idaho-based conservation organization.
Similar moves to expand wolf hunting have recently taken place elsewhere, including in Montana and Wisconsin. The bill made its way through the legislative process extremely quickly, and key partners such as the Idaho Department of Fish and Game were not thoroughly consulted, says State Representative Muffy Davis , a Democrat who voted against it. Scientists and conservationists, many of whom are outraged about the law, were also not part of the process.
In fiscal year , wolves likely killed cattle and sheep , according to state investigators. Over the last few years, hunters in Idaho have legally killed about wolves annually, so that the managed population has remained close to 1, If numbers fall below these, it would allow for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to resume management of the wolves, explains Andrea Zaccardi , a senior attorney with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.
These numbers are the lower limit spelled out by the Fish and Wildlife Service when wolves in the northern Rockies were delisted from the Endangered Species Act in The act is controversial for many reasons, Dutcher says. Not only will it expand killing of wolves in their dens, including pups, the legislation allows hunters unfettered right to set traps and snares on private property year-round, which can be lethal to other wildlife—not to mention humans and their pets.
State Senator Michelle Stennett , who voted against the legislation, was walking her nine-year-old golden retriever Teagan along a snowy road in early January when he got caught in a metal trap, which snapped shut on his leg and trapped him for 90 minutes.
Teagan accidentally bit Stennett while panicking, and both required emergency medical attention afterward—though both made a full recovery.
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