‘Shame On Wisconsin’, Reads New Billboard Ad By Anti-Wolf Hunt Group

“Shame On Wisconsin” is the new message on a billboard along I-90-94 in the Wisconsin Dells area.

Red bulls-eyes are pictured on wolves, as the billboard urges people to help stop the wolf hunt that’s scheduled to begin its second season this fall.

Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf, which describes itself as a small, privately funded nonprofit, says money from an unnamed donor is helping to pay for the billboard for three months. Executive director Melissa Smith says buying a billboard along the interstate is a good way to get visitors’ attention.

“Sure, they come to the dells for the water parks,” says Smith. “But I think a lot of people come to Wisconsin to enjoy the outdoors. When I go up north, I want to hear wolves – I want to know that they’re there.

Smith says the possibility that dogs may be used in this fall’s hunt and the chance that more wolves may be killed than last year concern her. State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, a co-author of the law that authorized wolf hunting in Wisconsin, says he supports the right of the group to put up the billboard. But Suder says the sign won’t change many minds, “because the wolf hunt has been successful and is the right management tool.”

Suder says there’s no reason dogs can’t be used with the wolf hunt. But he says the state budget bill did halt the idea of hunting wolves at night.