In recent news two Wisconsin politicians call for Great Lakes ‘wolf summit’ because they want the state to manage wolves. Over the last four years the Wisconsin wolf has become a political pawn for politicians like Senator Tom Tiffany and Representative Adam Jarchow because they want to resume wolf hunting in the state.
The Wisconsin wolf was placed back on endangered species list on December 19, 2014 by a federal judge . “In the short time since federal protections have been removed, trophy hunters and trappers have killed more than 1,500 Great Lakes wolves under hostile state management programs that encourage dramatic reductions in wolf populations,” Lovvorn said. (Source)
The Great Lake’s wolf was delisted in 2012 and states like Wisconsin rushed to hunt them. Out of all the states that hunt wolves, only Wisconsin allows hound hunters to use unleashed packs of dogs to hunt wolves. Wisconsin, quite literally, throws “dogs to the wolves.” Source: Fact Sheet: Wisconsin, quite literally, throws “dogs to the wolves.”
Wolves must remain under federal protections until states such as Wisconsin can be trusted to manage an endangered species like the iconic wolf. A new study just out this week dispels the myths that wolf hunting stops illegal killing of wolves. This study by Guillaume Chapron and Adrian Treves, Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore.
Making the Wisconsin wolf a game animal did not improve tolerance among trophy hunters and it only increased poaching.
Let’s get back to wolf recovery in Wisconsin and learn methods of coexisting with wolves.
Wolf education and awareness should to be a top priority not grand standing by extremists and politicians with hidden agendas.
Let’s put wolf management back in the hands of the Wisconsin public and out of the hands of the politician.
We need to band together hard and find a way to stop this. If those politicians get their way by representing a small few than we all lose. If we are having a problem in Shawno county then there are plenty of non lethal ways to help those areas. Having a hunt is wrong and that area is a large coyote slaughtering area of our state. They hold many coyote hunts giving out prizes for their kills. I have seen truck loads taken many times over the years. You give them the okay to kill and you will see how not resonsible our state is when monitoring culls. We stand with the wolves.
Thank you for your comment. It’s best to take extremists and politicians out of the management process of wolves and put it back into the hands of the public.
Rachel