Wisconsin Considering A Wolf Hunting Season

The Wisconsin Conservation Congress seems to be testing the waters a bit by seeking input from residents on the prospects of offering a wolf hunt, partly in efforts to slow down the growth of the animal and keep human encounters and livestock damages to a minimum. Nothing being proposed is binding.

Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the wolf fully recovered in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan and removed the wolf there from the list of endangered animals. None of the states currently offer wolf hunts and they still protect them through state mandates.

Grumblings are occurring in areas where wolves are creating problems and in some cases wolves are plentiful enough that people are being impacted to a point they don’t want to go outside out of fear. People want to see something more done to manage wolves and reduce numbers.

But the wolf lovers will have none of that and continue their selfish ways of wanting more rights and privileges for the wolf than the people. Even after the feds removed the wolf from the list, wolf advocate groups and animal rights groups filed suit to get the wolf put back on the endangered list.

A pending lawsuit filed last year by four animal advocacy groups demands that the Fish and Wildlife Service place wolves in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota back on the endangered species list. Groups involved included the Humane Society of the United States, Help Our Wolves Live, the Animal Protection Institute, now known as Born Free USA, and Friends of Animals and Their Environment.

The highest concentrations of wolves are in the northern part of the state and thusly so are the most problems. One Eagle River resident and grouse hunter put it best when he said:

“There’s a lot of people who love the wolves,” he said, “but they don’t live up here.”

Tom Remington