Dear Editor: “Would state management endanger wolves?” Three days following the relisting of Great Lakes wolves, one of Wisconsin’s wolf recovery biologists, Richard Thiel, answered, “The jury is out.”
The following examples of mismanagement by Wisconsin may have something to do with that: 17 wolf packs gone, 700+ wolves killed in trophy hunts, 170+ killed at the behest of livestock owners, 180-360 wolves poached, pack size down to 3.2, the unprecedented use of hound dogs trained to track and fight wolves, increasing threats of poaching by fringe hunting groups, unregulated trapping in woods saturated with bait and gruesome traps, and more.
Is it any wonder that six independent biologists sent a letter in September to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting emergency relisting for Wisconsin’s wolves?
The Wolf Attitude Survey by the Department of Natural Resources cannot be denied; a majority of Wisconsin citizens inside and outside of wolf range not only want more wolves but ultimately want a say in how they coexist on the landscape with wolves, which they’ve done for 40 years without wolf hunts.
via Melanie Weberg: ‘Enough is enough’ on failure to protect wolves : Ct.