New Evidence Shows WDNR Is Not Following Post Delisting Management of Wolves by Rachel Tilseth

Wolf activists are in full swing calling for WI wolves to be re- listed as an endangered species. Recent events in this year’s WI wolf hunt show that WDNR has created a climate full of hostility towards wild wolves. Read more here http://wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com/2014/10/24/re-list-wi-wolves-reverse-the-wdnrs-climate-of-hostility-toward-its-wolves/

Another advocacy education organization is calling for wolves to be resisted

Timber Wolf Information Network http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/wi-some-scientists-want-wisconsins-wolves-relisted-as-endangered/

Timber Wolf Information Network participated as one of the scientists, Dick Thiel.

Read full story here WI: Some Scientists Want Wisconsin’s Wolves Relisted As Endangered http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/wi-some-scientists-want-wisconsins-wolves-relisted-as-endangered/

Adrian Treves one of the co signers stated:

“Treves’ view changed during the winter of 2013-2014 when, he maintains, the methods changed. “Those methods for counting wolves changed substantially and they changed in a way that made them not transparent and not open to public scrutiny or scientific scrutiny,” he says.”

Treves furthers states:

“Treves and his fellow co-signers are calling for a temporary emergency relisting of wolves as endangered to allow an independent team of scientists to review the status of the population since an annual hunt launched in Wisconsin three years ago.”

There’s more. Here is a second letter calling USFWS for an emergency re listing of WI wolves dated October 15, 2014.
The newest letter http://faculty.nelson.wisc.edu/treves/reports/Letter%20to%20USFWS/Response_to_Acting_Director_Wooley_USFWS.pdf

In this latest letter there is new evidence for re listing because WDNR is not following post delisting management. The following quoted from the letter:

“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.”

Adrian Treves is one of the scientists at the Carnivore Coexistence Lab that’s part of the Gaylord Nelson Institute located in Madison WI http://nelson.wisc.edu/