MFZTA Opposition to wolf hunt seems purely emotional I passed another wolf billboard today on the freeway. Its message clearly opposed the wolf season in Minnesota. As executive director of the Wildlife Science Center, a wolf center near Forest Lake, I am well-versed in the emotional extremes that accompany any conversation about wolves. I served as an adviser to the wolf roundtable in the late 1990s, watching as a roomful of people with disparate values worked together to develop a management plan. From what I gather, the current argument against the hunt has three concerns: 1) disruption of wolf-pack society through the death of pack members; 2) dangerous population reduction, and 3) fears of cruelty at the hands of trappers in particular. Science appears to have left the room. Wolves in Minnesota have been extensively studied, both in captivity and in the wild. One of the many aspects of wolf ecology that has been examined is the effect of fracturing on packs. The cap of 400 wolves to be taken is conservative by any measure.
Wolf Depredation Original article authored in 2000 by Bill Paul, U.S. Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services, Ed Bangs, retired Wolf Recovery Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, Carter Niemeyer, U.S. Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services, Elizabeth Harper, Fisheries and Wildlife Department, University of MN Updates by International Wolf Center staff Wherever they coexist, wolves may prey on domestic animals. Minnesota – as an exampleWolves became completely protected in Minnesota in 1974 under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Since their protection, wolf numbers in Minnesota have steadily increased. MN wolf range map As the wolf population has increased, their range has ceased to expand significantly southward and westward. Even during times of high numbers of depredations, only a small portion of Minnesota farmers are affected. Most verified losses occur from May through October when livestock are released to graze in open and wooded pastures. Literature cited 1. 2. 3.
Protecting crops from deer Posted: Friday, August 10, 2012 4:06 pm DNR hunts for solution to deer problem By John WeissThe Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN Post-Bulletin Company, LLC ELBA — Under the hot August sun, Amanda Dietz and Kaila Fish picked yard upon yard of weeds in the long rows of carrots at Whitewater Gardens Farm. With a temporary electric fence nearby, their work will mean more fresh carrots at local farmers markets. Without the fence, the area's deer would have dined well. An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety. Need an account? "They come into these rows and, after that, you don't see any rows," said Lonny Dietz, an owner of the vegetable farm atop a bluff near Elba. Dietz estimates that deer destroy $5,000 to $10,000 of his crops annually; deer especially like sweet potato vines. Deer damage prompted him to ask the Department of Natural Resources for help. But while Luedtke can do some things to help, he said the overall problem will not go away.
MN DNR Federal court ruling makes killing wolves illegal Effective Dec. 19, 2014, Minnesotans can no longer legally kill a wolf except in the defense of human life. A federal judge's decision to immediately reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan place the animals under protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wolves now revert to the federal protection status they had prior to being removed from the endangered species list in the Great Lakes region in January 2012. Only agents of the government are authorized to take wolves if depredation occurs. Estimated at fewer than 750 animals in the 1950s, Minnesota's wolf population now is estimated at 2,423 animals, 212 more wolves than estimated on the survey conducted in winter 2013. The latest population survey results estimate that 470 wolf packs lived in Minnesota's wolf range this past winter, 212 more wolves than estimated on the survey conducted in winter 2013.