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Health & Fitness

STOP The 2012-2013 WOLF HUNT!!!, Says Roseville Blogger

"The state legislature has bypassed consensus input from a citizen's roundtable to produce legislation, therefore devaluing stakeholder processes,''


The issues: 

  1. Governor Dayton, the MN State Legislature, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have initiated the first legally sanctioned public wolf hunting and trapping season in state history. This season appears aimed at hunters and trappers as “sportsmen”, and will have minimal impact on wolf predation.
  2.  I oppose the establishment of a wolf hunting and trapping season within five years of removing the wolf from the protections of the Endangered Species Act.  My reasons are stated below.
  3. The state legislature has bypassed consensus input from a citizen’s roundtable to produce legislation, therefore devaluing stakeholder
    processes
    . This is not the first time that the state legislature has bypassed cooperative input from a citizen roundtable.  This same policy,blatant disregard for citizen input and cooperative policy determination, is now demonstrated in Rep. Chip Cravaack’s H.R. 5544: Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act. I will address that proposed legislation in another blog.

Legislative history: 

In anticipation of the federal delisting of gray wolves, the 2000 Minnesota
Legislature passed a bill authorizing the MN DNR, in consultation with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, to develop a wolf management plan with the goal of ensuring the long-term survival of the wolf in Minnesota, while resolving conflicts between wolves and humans.

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The Wolf Management Plan was developed by the DNR inconsultation with the Wolf Roundtable, a consensus group including representatives from hunting, agriculture, tribal and public entities. The plan was adopted by the MN DNR in 2001. 

The MN Wolf Management Plan contained a compromise that established  a five year moratorium on hunting after any delisting, before a hunting season would be initiated.

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In general,post-delisting monitoring plans call for review and evaluation of the species’ population, threats to the species, and introduction of any legal or management measures that may reduce threats or maintain them at low levels.

Minnesota statutes were amended in 2011 to change the status of wolves to a small game species and to provide the ability to authorize a season without a five year waiting period.  The 2011 legislation bypassed
the commitment of the DNR and the consensus work of the Wolf Roundtable. 

This legislation also disregarded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service MN DNR Wolf Management Plan (1999), which authorized a five year moratorium on hunting and trapping  following the Federal delisting of the gray wolf, and then only after public comment.” (link: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/stateplans/mnplnsum.htm

On January 27, 2012, the gray wolves in Minnesota were removed (delisted) from the federal Endangered Species Act. Wolf management became the domain of the MN DNR.

The Omnibus game and fish bill (HF2171) was signed into law by Gov. Dayton on May 3, 2012. This legislation authorized the establishment of a 2012-2013 hunting and trapping season on gray wolves.  The wolf season is set to begin on November 3, 2012.

The MN DNR is accepting applications through Sept. 6, 2012 to enter the lottery for wolf hunting and trapping licenses. A total of 6,000 licenses will be offered. The target harvest quota will be 400 wolves.  

Information about wolves:

  • Last wolf count in MN was 2007-2008.  The estimated wolf population in 2008 was 2,921.
  • Wolves are pack animals that live in small groupings formed mostly by family members. The average pack size was 4.9 wolves per pack. Wolves are loyal and may form lifetime bonds with each other.  
  • The alpha male and alpha female are usually the only members to have pups; the entire pack raises the pups; orphaned pups are adopted and fostered.
  • More than one third of adult wolves die of starvation each year; more than half of newborn wolf pups will die by 6 months of age.
  • In Northern Minnesota where there are 165,000 cattle, only 91 confirmed wolf kills on livestock were  verified in the year 2011.
  • Wolves die from motor vehicle accidents, diseases (distemper and mange), and illegal hunting and trapping.  The numbers of wolf deaths for each category are unknown.

Source: http://howlingforwolves.org/about-gray-wolf

  • Wolf social structure:

    • Disruption of wolf social structure through hunting or other exploitation can lead to increased numbers of conflicts with humans and livestock.

    • Disruption of pack social structure can lead to changes in age composition, group size, survival rates, hunting abilities, territory size and stability, social behaviour, genetic identity and diversity.

    • Reducing human-caused wolf mortalities (through hunting and trapping) restored the natural structure of wolf packs (kin-based families) without a marked increase in population.

Source: http://www.canadianwolfcoalition.com/node/3


  • Wolf attacks on humans in North America are rare.

  • Wolves prey upon white-tailed deer, the primary host for deer ticks, which transmit the bacterium for Lyme disease.  Consequently, any reduction in deer population can help reduce the frequency of Lyme disease. Reduction in deer population also reduces the depletion of groundcover foliage needed for nesting birds.

Actions pending:

Petition submitted to DNR:  August 9th, 2012: A legal petition was officially
submitted to the Minnesota DNR by Howling for Wolves to adopt a new rule to
stop the 2012 Wolf Hunting and Trapping Season (link: http://static.howlingforwolves.org/PetitionToStopTheWolfHunt.pdf)

What can you do?

Write to Gov. Dayton (mark.dayton@state.mn.us) and DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr (Tom.Landwehr@state.mn.us) asking them to stop the wolf hunt. 

Contact your legislators and determine how they voted.  If you disagree, consider the upcoming election.

Send letters to the editor, blog, talk to your friends, demonstrate.

Demonstrations: Howling for Wolves has organized / is organizing demonstrations to oppose the wolf hunt.  For information: http://www.howlingforwolves.org/take-action


 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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