Wyoming elected officials need to get un elected….
Duane Kolpack manages a beef farm in Ontonagon County, this guy looks like a real rocket scientist… He says labor to take lethal means is more expensive than the animals lost,” stated Kolpack. and they get compensated for all death now….
“Wolves have become a federally protected animal again, and the DNR is unable to utilize proper management plans,” Kolpack said. “Their hands are tied because of this. We have had a good working relationship with the DNR over a number of years and have tried some nonlethal control measures that have not been effective.
Kolpack said farmers We have had lethal control that has been effective when the wolves were delisted, but the labor to take lethal means is more expensive than the animals lost,” stated Kolpack. “We now get compensated for all depredations but the compensation is based on commercial market price at the time of death and our market is a finished mature animal processed and packaged for premium sales, the difference between them can be as high as $1,800 per animal.”
To address the issue of wolves that are threatening the safety of livestock and pets, U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, is co-sponsoring legislation requiring the Interior Department to reissue the rule that removed the gray wolf from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife and also removed the designation of critical habitat for wolves in Minnesota and Michigan.
In December 2011 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) issued a rule to remove western Great Lakes gray wolves from Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections based on two main factors:
•In Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, gray wolf numbers exceeded the threshold that the FWS established.
•Michigans’s wolf management plans were determined to provide for the long-term conservation of a viable wolf population in the region.
A U.S. District Court judge issued a decision in December 2014 to reinstate gray wolves under ESA protections.
The FWS, Michigan and Wisconsin are currently appealing the decision. Similarly, Wyoming gray wolves were de-listed by FWS in September 2012, but a separate September 2014 court decision reinstated ESA protections.
“This bipartisan piece of legislation is designed to end the culture of ‘management by litigation’ that has predominated in regard to the gray wolf and a number of other issues,” Bergman said. “Folks in the First (Michigan Congressional) District care about where they live — they’re invested in protecting the land, the wildlife and the water,and I trust them to be good stewards of the environment without undue interference.”
Bergman said the bill instructs the FWS to once again delist wolves and prohibits judicial review of that determination.
“Michiganders need to be able to manage the gray wolf in a way that both protects the integrity of the species and serves the interests of the citizens of the state,” he said.
Source: De-listing wolves proposed in House | News, Sports, Jobs – The Mining Gazette