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DNR Chief Frank Standing Behind Efforts to Delist Gray Wolf
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 12/14/2010

Federal officials continue to believe there are enough gray wolves in the Great Lakes region to warrant taking them off the endangered species list. And according to Wisconsin's outgoing natural resources secretary, the state is standing behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's efforts. The DNR's Matt Frank says scientific evidence supports delisting the animals, which have been protected in the region since 1974.

"Transferring management of the wolf to Wisconsin is timely and will lead to improved management through effective action on problem wolves," Frank says. "We have worked closely with the Department of the Interior on wolf delisting over the past two years and applaud Interior's proposed action to delist the gray wolf."

As Wisconsin Ag Connection reported in April, the Wisconsin and Minnesota DNR agencies submitted a petition to the Interior Department asking for the delisting because the recent growth in the wolf population was leading to problems with wolves killing livestock and hunting dogs.

"The DNR has a federally approved wolf management plan ready to be implemented when delisting occurs," Frank noted this week.

This isn't the first time the state was close to having the wolf delisted. In April 2009, the federal government removed the wolves from the Endangered Species Act list in certain states, including Wisconsin. But two months later, animal rights groups reached a court-ordered settlement with the agency that restored those protections. The Bush Administration also attempted to delist them in 2007 and had similar backlashes.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin's gray wolf population at the close of the 2009-10 winter was estimated to be 690 to 733 outside Indian reservations, roughly a 10 percent increase over the 2008-09 end-of-winter estimate. Last month, the DNR announced that two projects were set to get underway this winter to look at the causes of death in bucks and fawns including the roles of predators, weather and hunters.

The Endangered Species Act does not allow for any taking of wolves except under extraordinary circumstances, such as a threat to human life.


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