KENT COUNTY, Mich. — It’s been 50 years since Michigan’s wolves were in the cross-hairs. That could change as soon as November.
“What we’re looking at right now is the potential to add hunting as another tool to resolve conflict with wolves,” Russ Mason, the chief of Michigan’s DNR wildlife division said.
He said legalizing wolf hunting is strictly a management tool for the Department of Natural Resource’s perspective. He said wolves should have been taken off of the endangered species list a decade ago, but that didn’t happen until 2012.
“At that time, the legislature here in Michigan chose to move them from non-game to game status,” Mason explained.
“In the meantime, we have statutes in the state that allow folks to remove wolves if they’re seen attacking livestock, or they’re seen attacking your dog, or even jumping over the fence,” he said.
Jill Fritz is with the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected campaign.
Her group is gathering signatures to get a referendum on the November 2014 ballot. That would allow voters to decide whether to legalize the hunting of wolves, not the legislature.
“There are currently only 687 of them in the Upper Peninsula. They’re not a real problem to anyone. They’re not harmful to humans. They’re not a danger to humans,” Fritz said.
She said, so far they’ve collected 200,000 signatures. That’s 50,000 more than what’s needed. She believes the statutes that allow pet and livestock owners to shoot are enough.
“So there’s no need to go a step further and institute an inhuman hunting season,” Fritz said.
The DNR is holding a series of public meetings on the issue.
Michigan isn’t the only Great Lakes state talking about it. Minnesota is considering reinstating a wolf hunting ban with a 5 year moratorium.
15 Comments to “Wolf Hunting Debate Continues”
March 21, 2013 at 12:46 AM
Hunting is for putting food on the table.
And I have no problem with it, I hunt for food.
However Wolf hunting is more about penis size than "hunting"
leave the wolfs alone and find another way to feel manly.
March 21, 2013 at 12:47 AM
Leave the Wolfs alone, find another way to feel "manly"
March 21, 2013 at 5:54 PM
No if anything they have more balls then us
March 21, 2013 at 2:41 AM
People who hunt wolfs have "small man syndrome" they feel the need to kill a predator will make their junk bigger.
There is no reason to kill wolfs, you don't eat them, its all about your tiny manhood.
step up, be real men and leave the wolfs alone.
i am a wolf expert, lived with wolfs for 20 years, crawled into their dens, played with their cubs.
wolfs mate for life and stay together, killing wolfs for fun is sick.
level them alone and be a man, resist the urge to kill for killing sake.
the small man syndrome will go away when you don't kill the wolf. it takes a bigger man NOT to kill the wolfs for fun…
March 21, 2013 at 5:56 PM
But it is fun so you obviously don't belong in America they are a game animal we don't have to kill all of them but I mean there should yes be a limit
March 22, 2013 at 11:53 AM
you have never lived with wolVES shut up and go play more call of duty NERD SUCK IT
March 21, 2013 at 7:32 AM
I say let them run free and proliferate to no end. Make it illegal to shoot them for any reason, just like California did with the mountian lion. Then when they are over running the area all of you who have no clue about why we hunt can piss and moan about the distruction and come begging us to intervene.
March 21, 2013 at 5:33 PM
Shoot the wolves in Alaska there pelt is a 1000 dollars and I'm pretty sure all the trappers and hunters like myself would love to tag one normally we would have to go out of are way to get one now let us tag one near are homes i feel it is are right to be able to hunt them especially if they are killing live stock or pets if we let them populate to much lower michigan will eventually be over populated with wolves let us hunt let us Hunt
March 21, 2013 at 8:18 PM
The only reason you want to hunt wolves is so you can make more money, their is only 687 of them like they said their no threat to humans so leave wolves alone
March 22, 2013 at 11:47 AM
ok well thats just how many the dnr have tagged there are probably more that they havent tagged they cant tag every single wolf 687 is just a number that how many they have tag so dont act like it is the end of the world.
March 23, 2013 at 6:49 PM
You are 14 years old. Go read a book, little boy. You have no clue what you are talking about. Come talk to us when you grow up.
March 25, 2013 at 4:17 PM
Comeback to me when u no more about the woods they could bring down the deer population even more and now that we just had that black bug that killed those deer the wildlife expert said it would take ten years to bring population back if there are too many wolves they will make those years go up
March 21, 2013 at 8:45 PM
There was 700 (687?) of them what, 2 years ago?
count them again. If there is 1000 hunt wolves to control them. If there's still not many more than 700, or less, excellent, that's it, no problem, leave them alone.
March 22, 2013 at 11:51 AM
Hay this is to every one who hates the idea of wolf hunting suck it i want to kill one if you dont like it then you dont have to shoot them but to the people who do like me we want to it is a sport so SUCK IT WOLF HUNTING WOLF HUNTING LET US HUNT THEM LET US HUNT THEM
March 26, 2013 at 2:31 PM
You all sound like un informed children, let the science prevail!