Wolf, entangled in snare, shot and killed in Duluth

In Protect The Wolves by Lynda

First, we would like to say that efforts are underway RIGHT NOW to pass legislation in Congress to delist wolves in the Great Lakes region and IT WILL BE WORSE WITH MANY MORE SNARES AND THOUSANDS MORE WOLVES KILLED IN SEVERAL STATES! We all need to contact members of Congress ASAP!  #BanTrapping #SavetheESA #DontDelistWolves

Appropriations Bill H.R 3354, is loaded with toxic Riders Say NO toxic riders to impact the ESA and no riders to delist the grey wolf in this country!!! This and other Bills such as S.164, H.R 424 WITH NO JUDICIAL REVIEW are devastating to wolves in the Great Lakes Region and more! Loss of more public land to grazing allotments and hunting in our national parks! The list is long! 

Tell them to make sure the riders are removed before the final vote in order to save animals and preserve our National parks and wilderness. Stress that you are worried these riders will be rushed thru without discussion and once again the Senate Majority will win and the environment and animals lose. It can be very brief if you like but we NEED to flood him with emails!

Contact Senate Minority Leader, Senator Charles Schumer and your elected officials!     https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/email-chuck 

 

Wolf, entangled in snare, shot and killed in Duluth

Photo courtesy of Kelly Looby.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Looby

 

A timber wolf that had earlier become entangled in a wire trapping snare was shot and killed by a Duluth police officer Saturday afternoon along Rice Lake Road near Marshall School.

The wolf had first been reported near Tettegouche State Park on Lake Superior’s North Shore earlier in the week, then near the Sucker River outside Duluth. Several people had reported the entangled wolf earlier Saturday along the North Shore Scenic Highway, with the wire wrapped around the wolf’s muzzle.

“It seemed very disoriented. It would go from one side of the road to the other, then stop in the middle of the road,” she said.

Miller’s friend Kelly Looby said she got within a few feet of the wolf, and took photos, after she realized that it was unable to free its mouth.

The wire snare “was wrapped tight around its nose, and embedded into the nose. It clearly could not open its mouth at all. It was very thin,” Looby said.

Miller and Looby tried to follow the wolf but lost track of it. The Minnesota State Patrol, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Ron Kramer and Minnesota Conservation Officer Don Murray were called in to help, as was Duluth-based Wildwoods wild animal rehabilitation service.

“He might have been able to lick up some snow and sniff roadkill, but he had not been able to eat,” Wildwoods reported. “He had been starving, and was a skeleton of fur and bones.”

Officer Murray said reports flooded 911 as the animal made its way through Duluth Saturday morning. The wolf was shot about 2 p.m. near the intersection of Baylis Street and Rice lake Road, near the Marshall School, Duluth police confirmed.

“We tried to catch up to it thinking maybe we could capture it and help it out. But it was too mobile. We couldn’t ever quite get close enough.” Murray told the News Tribune.

“Eventually it was all the way up (near the Marshall School) in that area and the decision was made to put it down,” Murray said. “It’s unfortunate but we had to think about public safety and” a potential traffic accident.

 Murray said it’s unclear where or when the wolf became ensnared. Kramer kept the dead wolf.

A snare is a device intended to trap animals, a loop of wire designed to tighten around an animal’s neck. Trappers use scent or bait to lure animals into the loop of the wire snare and the animal becomes trapped and dies of asphyxiation. The devices are usually anchored to a tree or another immovable object. But in this case the wolf only went in as far as his nose and somehow freed the device from its anchor.

Wolves are off-limits to hunting and trapping under federal law. But snares are used legally to take coyotes year-round in Minnesota and fox remain legal for trapping through March 15.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Looby.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Looby.

“Snares are kind of the silent killer and they can be out there for a long time waiting,” said Kip Duncan, a Minnesota conservation officer who patrols in and around Duluth.

It’s not common for wolves to enter the Duluth city limits but it happens occasionally with the city on the edge of the north woods and with so many large, forested areas within the city. Wolves are more frequently seen in Hermantown and townships surrounding Duluth, especially areas with well-spaced homes and high deer numbers.

Wolves in Minnesota remain protected as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act after a December 2014 court order. Several efforts are underway to overturn that court decision or pass legislation in Congress to delist wolves in the Great Lakes region.

Source, full article:  http://www.echopress.com/sports/outdoors/4402615-wolf-entangled-snare-shot-and-killed-duluth