MARQUETTE, MI-- The Department of Natural Resources held a public hearing in Marquette Wednesday night on a possible wolf hunt.
DNR officials gave a presentation, had attendees fill out a survey and answered questions about what a public harvest would entail.
The gray wolf came off the Endangered Species List in January of 2012. Michigan lawmakers then voted to list wolves as a game species during the lame duck session in December.
Officials say at least 687 wolves live in the U.P. DNR biologist Brian Roell says if approved, a public harvest would only target areas where non-lethal means did not solve conflicts between people and wolves,
including depredation of livestock and pets.
“This would not be a statewide hunt,” he says. “It’s not going to be the U.P. is open to a hunt. It’s going to be small, isolated areas—zones, if you will, but again, that’s an NRC decision—where we’re having problems. We could then use basically the public to help do our job, help us control those wolf populations.”
Roell say problem areas include the city of Ironwood, where years of non-lethal control methods—like flags, fences, rubber bullets, and loud noises—have failed and wolves continue to encroach on public areas.
DNR officials say whatever plan is adopted must ensure the long-term viability of the gray wolf in the Upper Peninsula.
But the possible hunt faces considerable opposition across the state. Ginny Giddings of Marquette is a member of the DNR Citizen Advisory Committee. She’s against the hunt, saying it would only cater to recreational hunters.
“I just feel that this is a hunter issue and a trophy-getting issue,” she says. “And the plan is being quickly forced through, and I just think it’s wrong. I think that measures are already completely in place to take care of problem wolves.”
Upper Peninsula farmers are compensated for any livestock killed by wolf depredation. In 2012 the DNR paid $20,530.00 to farmers who lost animals to wolves.
The group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is trying to collect 225,000 signatures on a petition to put the issue on the 2014 ballot. If enough signatures are deemed valid the referendum would allow voters to choose whether or not to enact the Michigan Legislature’s wolf-hunting law. The deadline to submit signatures is March 27.
The group says since killing problem wolves is already legal in Michigan and people don’t eat wolves creating a hunt is pointless and reckless, given the decades devoted to bringing the animal back from the brink of extinction.
The DNR will compile public comment and make a recommendation to the state Natural Resources Commission, which will make the final decision about the manner and method of a hunt, if approved. That decision could come in June or July.
For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/wolves. To submit comments send an email to dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov and put “wolf input” in the subject line.
