Group Wants More Federal Oversight Of Wolf Management

Wolf advocates and biologists are pressing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a closer look at Wisconsin’s management of the gray wolf.

Wolf advocates and some scientists have been criticizing the Department of Natural Resources’ wolf hunting and trapping program since even before it began a couple years ago. Last month, biologists sent a letter to the USFWS, raising concerns about wolf population estimates, among other things, and asking for greater federal oversight.

Attorney Jodi Habush-Sinykin of Midwest Environmental Advocates called the letter an important warning.

“Our wolf management is becoming so unscientific and unregulated, it’s putting Wisconsin wolves at risk of being returned to a threatened status,” said Habush-Sinykin.

Endangered species protections for the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes region ended a few years ago, and Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker quickly moved to allow the shooting and trapping of the wolves.

Polk County resident Melanie Weberg also handed out a letter of concern Wednesday at the DNR Wolf Advisory Committee meeting. Weberg said that bait used for trapping bears also draws out wolves, and leads to deadly interactions between wolves and training dogs.

DNR staffers were not available for a phone interview, but a written statement from DNR wolf specialist Dave MacFarland said that the state has met its wolf monitoring requirements to the USFWS, and that the DNR has worked with university researchers to complete analyses of illegal wolf kills and wolf mortality rates.