Critics say Wisconsin winter wolf hunt was too much, too soon

From the Duluth News Tribune:

Wildlife biologists from tribal and conservation groups are decrying Wisconsin’s February wolf hunting season as a wildlife management “debacle’’ that placed politics above science and that will help anti-hunting efforts across the board.

And they’re now asking for changes to state laws before the same thing happens again in November.

“This wolf hunt really gave a black eye to sound wildlife management,’’ said Adrian Wydeven of Cable, representing the Northland College-based Timber Wolf Alliance. “It plays right into the hands of groups that want to stop any kind of wolf management, or any kind of hunting, because it was so excessive.”

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France: Wolf identified in southeast Vienne is first in a century

From The Connexion in France:

A wolf has been found in Vienne, southeastern France, for the first time in a century – after the animal suffered from eradication in the 1930s.

The animal was discovered dead next to a railway link near the commune of Lathus-Saint-Rémy, in the southeast of the department.

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Rare gray wolf returns to Tuolumne County in California

From The Union Democrat:

A yearling male gray wolf, named OR-93 for his origins with an Oregon pack and tracked in late February in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, returned to Tuolumne County on Wednesday.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the wolf “is currently back in Tuolumne County,” Kelle Schroeder, the Tuolumne County agriculture commissioner, announced in a statement released Wednesday afternoon that also reminded people that gray wolves are a protected species in the Golden State.

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Montana: ‘Reimbursement’ or ‘bounty’

From Montana Free Press:

The Montana Legislature is debating aggressive measures to reduce the state’s wolf population, marking an inflection point in the state’s management of wolves, which has become a lightning rod for rhetoric.

This week the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee heard testimony on two bills that passed out of the Senate earlier this month with near-unanimous Republican support. Senate Bill 267 would allow for the “reimbursement for receipts of costs incurred relating to the hunting or trapping of wolves.” Another measure, Senate Bill 314, would remove bag limits, authorize hunting with bait and legalize nighttime wolf hunting (a practice known as spotlighting) on private land.

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Rio Blanco County takes steps affirming Colorado wolf reintroduction opposition

From The Fence Post:

On Tuesday March 16, 2021, the Rio Blanco County Board of County Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to reaffirm the county’s opposition to wolf reintroduction to become a Wolf Reintroduction Sanctuary County. Rio Blanco County is the first in the state to adopt a Wolf Reintroduction Sanctuary Resolution since Proposition 114 passed on November 3, 2020.

Through the resolution, the commissioners stated the county would allow for the natural migration and repopulation of Gray Wolves, but would not allow for artificially introduced wolves. Further stating that “designated lands” for artificial reintroduction must not include Rio Blanco County or any other county in the state that adopts the Sanctuary County Resolution.

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Depiction of wolves in new Fortnite release is inaccurate, irresponsible and could have lasting consequences

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Mexican wolf: Rarest subspecies of wolf in North America sees population almost double in five years

From The Guardian in the UK:

Once on the verge of extinction, the rarest subspecies of grey wolf in North America has seen its population nearly double over the last five years, with more gains being reported in 2020.

The results of the latest annual survey show there are at least 186 Mexican grey wolves in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona, US wildlife managers said on Friday. That marks the fifth straight year that the endangered species has increased its numbers, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Wolf collared in Banff killed in U.S. after sudden 500-kilometre migration to Montana

From CTV News in Canada:

CALGARY — A lone male wolf from Banff’s Bow Valley pack journeyed nearly 500 kilometres from Alberta to Montana in just five days, before being legally killed in northwestern Montana on Monday.

The collared two-year-old wolf, known to researchers as Wolf 2001, had journeyed 480 kilometres before being legally killed by a hunter on Monday.

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French Official Fined $12,000 In Wolf Tail Gift Case

From urdupoint.com:

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 12th March, 2021) Jean-Marie Bernard, the chairman of the southeastern French Hautes-Alpes department, has been sentenced to a fine of 10,000 Euros (nearly $12,000) for an attempt to give a wolf tail to a regional prefect as a gift, media reported on Friday.

According to the France Bleu news outlet, the controversy occurred over a year ago, when Bernard offered a wolf tail as a gift to former regional prefect Cecile Bigot-Dekeyzer on the occasion of her departure. While the official described the gift as a political act in defense of sheep and sheep breeders, associations supporting wolves as protected species brought a civil action against Bernard.

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