“Wolves are the intelligent and majestic ancestors of man’s best friend, dogs. Should they be honored as spiritual companions, respecting Anishinaabe Indian traditions? Should they be killing fodder for the hound dogs and trappers, inflicting animal cruelty no other state provides — wolf/dog fights?
Are human beings really qualified to micromanage nature — or would benign neglect and ecotourism be the path forward? It is humans who are ravaging the climate and oceans — destroying other species at an unprecedented rate. Should we just leave well enough alone and focus on managing our own populations, violence and excesses? I think so.
The core solution is democratizing nature policy, replacing killing license funding with general public funding of the Department of Natural Resources. Fair pay, fair say.
The extreme animal cruelty involved in hunting and trapping is made obvious in the proposed management and quotas of killing wolves. Wisconsin has 3.4 million cattle, 1.4 million deer — and we have a problem with 800 wolves?
The DNR-recommended quotas are 142-233 wolf kills in seven zones over four and a half months. Add in 37 wolves already killed with landowner and USDA permits. Add the usual conservative annual estimate of 100 killed illegally and you get a third of wolf packs destroyed and dispersed randomly. The minimum wolf population goal set 20 years ago was 350. Since then science has revealed how essential wolves are to the integrity of whole ecosystems. They are the best protection we have against chronic wasting disease in the deer herd.
George Meyer, head of the killer coalition, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, clamors, “There is a need to manage the wolf population to a lower level. The quotas might be too conservative, though, to actually accomplish that goal.” The goal of the bear hounders and trappers. Not science. Not healthy ecosystems.
The quotas and methods have drawn fire from DNR wildlife managers Dick Thiel and Randy Jurewicz and UW wolf researcher Adrian Treves. The season is absurdly long and the use of dogs and trapping is gratuitous abuse. Treves’ studies showing extremely low wolf predation of livestock and 91 percent predictability of which few wolves predate, concentrated on 6 percent of wolf territory. Two or three guard dogs kept on farms in those areas are perceived as competing wolf packs, a successful strategy averting human/wolf conflicts. The biologists advocated no wolf hunt and cautious use of landowner kill licenses.
Treves predicted that this extremely abusive assault on wolves would be contested in lawsuits under the Wildlife Public Trust Doctrine, which states that wildlife is to be protected in trust for all citizens.
Jody Habush Sinykin, Midwest Environmental Advocates attorney, laid out before the Natural Resources Board how the wolf kill bill could be contested under animal cruelty laws. She cited the 2009 case of the Kuenzi brothers, who ran over deer with snowmobiles, leaving them crippled and dying. They also tied deer to trees and tortured them. The Kuenzis argued this was just part of hunting tradition and the laws applied only to domestic animals. The appellate ruling clarified that animal cruelty laws apply to wildlife.
Sinykin informed the board that the law could be used to keep the DNR from allowing hunting with dogs and some other practices. “When wolves and dogs mix, there are going to be few standing. It will result in fatalities, euthanasia,” she said.
Dave Clausen, NRB chair, echoed her, “You’re looking at a wolf/dog fight. That would have some very negative connotations. I think we should be very careful about allowing (this).”
Rachel Tilseth is one of the 300 volunteer wolf trackers, following wolves for 15 years near Menomonie in Dunn County. She has learned to love them. She is starting an ecotourism business, taking people out to howl with the wolves. She plans to work with the International Crane Foundation. She is collaborating with a tour group out of Delaware, coming in October for wolf tracking, and she will be working with local hotels and businesses. She has contacted the Tourism Board and the DNR for support.
How will the DNR balance wolf, crane and bear ecotourism with destroying the attractions? Tilseth sent an email saying, “I think comparing the pristine ecosystem to the wolf bleeding to death is a great way to get Wisconsinites to think about hunting versus wildlife viewing.”
Patricia Randolph of Portage is a longtime activist for wildlife. madravenspeak@gmail.com or www.wiwildlifeethic.org
The Wolf Preservation Blog 
I hope President Obama is happy with what his administration is responsible for: the absolute bloodbath and carnage launched against the Gray Wolf. And this from the man who campaigned in 2008 that he was going to bring science-based decisions back to the White House!
This infuriates me on so many levels. When are the august societies (Boone & Crockett come to mind) who promote “hunting” as a way of life going to take responsibility for encouraging jailing and placing very heavy fines against people like the Kuenzis, who plainly enjoy torturing wildlife? Running over deer with snowmobiles and tying them to trees is NOT hunting. It is blatant animal cruelty; and it does not matter whether the animal is wild or domestic!!
As far as using dogs to hunt wolves, not only is it cruel and unnecessary to the wolves but the dogs as well. Any dog owner who would even think of using their dog in this way certainly puts no value on the animal’s life at all. As pointed out “when wolves and dogs mix, there will be few standing. It will result in fatalities, euthanasia,” Let’s just call this what these trappers/hunters want: a bloodbath, preferably of wolves, but if they have to sacrifice their own dog, well so be it.
I am anxiously awaiting for some org to file a lawsuit based upon the Wildlife Public Trust Doctrine, because no state is preserving the gray wolf for all citizens.These very same states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota and Wisconsin promote their states as pristine ecosystems, Blood soaked snow is not going to do much for tourism.
Great comments Rhonda. Certainly, science based decisions are not being utilized whatsoever, despite what the administration and wolf opponents claim. I agree: hunting is not tying an animal to a tree or running over deers with snowmobiles. Nor is it harassing wildlife from airplanes via aerial gunning.
And unfortunately Michael it is not just wolves that are being eliminated with no regard for any form of wildlife. As long as Ken Salazar is Secretary of the Interior, only livestock producers, hunters and outfitters and the NRA and Big Oil will continue to get carte blanche while wolves, wild horses & burros, bison, wolverines and every other form of wildlife, with the exception of elk and deer, are wiped from our nation!
You are from Portage, Wisconsin the people of northern Wisconsin don’t tell you what you need or don’t need in Portage. So its none of your right to say what they should do.