The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that it was removing Endangered Species Act protections for the wolf in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and portions of adjoining states.
After the announcement, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ordered the state Department of Natural Resources to implement a state wolf management plan.
Wolves – which can travel up to 30 miles a day – have reached a population of about 800 in Wisconsin. That exceeds the state’s goal of 350. There are now more than 4,000 wolves in the Midwest. The region, once considered a bastion of wolf reintroduction and protection, may soon witness aerial wolf hunts and wolf seasons akin to the US West.
Under the state management plan, the DNR or those acting on its behalf will be able to kill “problem wolves.”
The Center for Biological Diversity said the decision was premature, and contended that wolves remained threatened by disease and human persecution. It criticized Minnesota for using a bounty system to kill problem wolves, and said there should be less emphasis on lethal controls. The group said it supports the government’s conclusion to retain protections for wolves in the Northeast.
As wolf numbers soared in recent years, the wolf became a lightning rod of controversy. Motorists bought Wisconsin license plates with its iconic image, but some deer hunters blamed wolves for reducing the deer population in parts of the north. At least seven wolves are believed to have been killed during the 2011 deer hunting season.
Despite their prevalence today, wolves were wiped off the state’s landscape between 1960 and 1974. In the mid-1970s, they began to migrate from Minnesota.
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“Wolves – which can travel up to 30 miles a day – have reached a population of about 800 in Wisconsin. That exceeds the state’s goal of 350.” Who was there first, us or the wolves? You make me sick. We push the poor animals out of their habitat (who got along just fine with the NATIVE American Indians–whom we also pushed out of their habitat, tried to genocide, infected with tuberculosis…so they have us a friendly-looking enemy in common–as well as an affinity with nature)and now they’re walking the streets and what’s our proposal? Kill ’em. Just like the Indians. The only good animal is a dead animal, is that it? We are just so disgusting–and defective–as a species, i’m amazed there are any truly humanitarian, humane humans amongst us. But, fortunately (for us and the animals and the earth), there are. Probably not the majority, though.
“Wolves – which can travel up to 30 miles a day – have reached a population of about 800 in Wisconsin. That exceeds the state’s goal of 350.” This is a sad situation, indeed. We push the poor animals out of their habitat (who got along just fine with the NATIVE American Indians–whom we also pushed out of their habitat, tried to genocide, infected with tuberculosis…so they have us a friendly-looking enemy in common–as well as an affinity with nature)and now they’re walking the streets and what’s our proposal? Kill them. Is this problem the fault, the responsibility of the wolves? Are we not in many ways to blame for it? Fortunately for us and the animals and the earth), there are truly humanitarian, humane human beings out there.
I hope the second of my messages will find more sympathy with your board of editors. Thank you.
Dear EF! Journal,
We’d like to request permission to re-post relevant articles (mostly ones concerning Wisconsin) from this website onto our Deep Green Resistance Wisconsin blog. We will of course credit and link to you. Similarly, you all can repost anything from our blog if you’d like.
please, feel free to repost…
DISLIKE