Blogged by Rachel Tilseth

Our Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is creating a climate of hostility towards wild wolves. Even crazy rocker (fringe) Hunter Ted Nugent wants wolf hunters to poach wolves because agencies aren’t putting out enough wolf kill tags. Even stating that, “Wolf coats rock!!”

Read the full story here http://atomic-temporary-72018855.wpcomstaging.com/2014/10/23/wi-third-wolf-hunt-a-debauchery-excessive-indulgence-of-over-killing/

Re-list WI’s is the answer! They did this in Wyoming and we need to get this done here in WI. More on this here http://atomic-temporary-72018855.wpcomstaging.com/2014/10/02/third-wolf-hunt-set-to-begin-with-no-permanent-rule-in-place-to-monitor-use-of-dogs/

WDNR isn’t managing Wolves as a natural resource. Instead the WDNR is managing wolves as a trophy for out of control fringe hunters that are bent on vengeance against a wild animal, the wolf.

Scientists have now sent USFWS 2 letters pointing out problems with WDNR’s post delisting management of wolves.

Here’s what I propose you do. Call the same agencies that filed the lawsuit that stopped Wyoming’s wolf hunt. Read the following action alert and then get to work.

Photographs are off of Center For Biological Diversity’s website http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

Call to action: get WI wolves re-listed. The following statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service makes it clear that Feds will not take action…

The following is from a WI weekly news round up http://www.piercecountyherald.com/content/wisconsin-news-round-corn-harvest-estimates-rising

“A federal agency says it will not consider a request by scientists to put the grey-wolf back on the endangered species list. The regional head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told UW-Madison professor Adrian Treves in a letter this week that the agency is not concerned yet about a recent drop in the state’s wolf population. The DNR reported 660-to-689 wolves this past spring, down from 809-to-824 the year before. The scientists said they thought the DNR under-reported the wolves’ mortality rate of 28-percent — saying it could have been almost twice that much through June of last year. Charles Wooley, the acting Midwest director of the Fish-and-Wildlife Service, said Wisconsin’s decline is not enough to raise red flags. He said the agency would not consider re-listing the animal unless the combined populations in Wisconsin and Michigan fall below 200 — or below 100 in either state. Re-listing the wolf would end the state’s management of grey wolves, thus ending the annual wolf hunting seasons of the past two years. The state’s next wolf hunt begins Wednesday.”

On October 15 Scientists send a second letter to USFWS stating the following in reply to the above response from USFWS: the following letter quotes:

“In addition to all the reasons noted in our 15 August 2014 letter (new unregulated hunting method, new harvest, and under-reported poaching) we now add additional new concerns about the State of Wisconsin’s wolf management:
• Data on successful reproduction of Wisconsin wolf packs have not been presented publicly or presented to the independent scientific community for review. These data were provided in the past, hence interannual comparisons require them. These data are essential to proper estimates of population status, because substantial population declines can occur at moderate levels of mortality if reproduction is severely impaired.
• Wisconsin did not submit all wolf carcasses for necropsy as required, “The wolf management plans for Minnesota and Wisconsin commit the respective DNRs to conduct necropsies on dead wolves” (50 CFR 15266–15305 and also in USFWS [2008]). Without these data we cannot assess if poaching has risen with initiation of harvest or deregulation of hound training in Wisconsin.” http://faculty.nelson.wisc.edu/treves/reports/Letter%20to%20USFWS/Response_to_Acting_Director_Wooley_USFWS.pdf

In other words, WDNR is not following post delisting management. The scientists are asking USFWS to:

“Therefore we ask respectfully that you correct the deficiencies in monitoring and exert your regulatory authority. The remainder of this letter addresses the case for prompt emergency relisting as articulated above.”

It is now imperative that we, you, act to get WI Wolves put back on the endangered Species list.

Call to action: get WI wolves re-listed. The above statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service makes it clear that Feds will not take action. The public needs to call these contacts and ask for them to push for a lawsuit like they did in Wyoming.
Contacts:
Tim Preso, Earthjustice, (406) 586-9699 http://earthjustice.org/
Melanie Gade; Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-0288 http://www.defenders.org/
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495 http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
Josh Mogerman, Natural Resources Defense Council, (312) 651‐7909 http://www.nrdc.org/
Bonnie Rice, Sierra Club, (406) 582-8365 x 1 http://www.sierraclub.org/

Why does WI need to re-list its wolves?
WI: Scientists: Vital information missing from DNR’s wolf slaughter statisticshttp://www.timberwolfinformation.org/wi-scientists-vital-information-missing-from-dnrs-wolf-slaughter-statistics/

WI wolves face the same hostile treatments as Wyoming’s wolves. http://atomic-temporary-72018855.wpcomstaging.com/2014/10/02/third-wolf-hunt-set-to-begin-with-no-permanent-rule-in-place-to-monitor-use-of-dogs/

Second letter to USFWS from Scientists written on October 15, 2014 http://faculty.nelson.wisc.edu/treves/reports/Letter%20to%20USFWS/Response_to_Acting_Director_Wooley_USFWS.pdf

http://www.defenders.org/

Visit our Facebook page for more information. We are a grassroots organization working for wolves. (Not a nonprofit) We are made up of citizen based lobbyists, action based working to change legislation on the unjust wolf hunt. https://www.facebook.com/WolvesOfDouglasCountyWisconsin