MILWAUKEE, WI (AP)-- A new study has found the state Department of Natural Resources has underreported wolf poaching.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reviewed the deaths of 937 wolves from October 1979 to April 2012. The state's first wolf hunting season began that fall.
Of the 979 wolves, 431 wore radio collars. The researchers found that 64 percent of the radio-collared wolves' deaths were due to human causes. A 2012 DNR report found humans caused 55 percent and the cause of the remaining 18 percent of deaths was unknown.
One of the researchers, Adrian Treves, has criticized the state's now-defunct wolf hunting and trapping season. DNR officials say the data they collect is meant to determine population and pack territories and isn't intended to determine wolf deaths.
