From PublicNewsService.org:
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Opposition to wolf hunts in Wisconsin is becoming more visible, and not only in public hearings or on social media. Drivers might soon notice how some hunters feel about wolves.
A new coalition, calling itself Hunters for Wolves, is behind a trio of billboards installed along roadways in northern Wisconsin. Organizers want to call attention to what they see as ethical concerns as the state prepares to update its wolf management plan.
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‘Trying to keep hope alive’: Joy turns to dread as historic California wolf goes missing
From SFGate.com:
Joy has turned to apprehension for researchers tracking a young wolf in California.
OR-93 has been on a remarkable, historic journey. The wolf, who was born into Oregon’s White River pack, crossed the border into California in February. He headed south with a bullet: His GPS collar soon pinged near Yosemite, the first time in over 100 years a wolf had been spotted in the region. Not content to settle down, OR-93 then crossed at least three highways on his way to the Central Coast.
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Montana And Idaho Allowing For More Wolf Harvest; Will This Affect Wyoming’s Population?
From Wyoming Public Media:
State legislatures in Montana and Idaho have recently passed policies that increase the number of wolves that can be harvested, and methods to harvest.
Both Montana and Idaho wolf populations are much higher than Wyoming’s. Currently, the state population is just above the minimum population requirement set by the federal government, when the wolves were taken off Endangered Species Act protections.
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Alaska Science Forum: Wolf virus Research Shows Space Virtues
From IllinoisNewsToday.com:
Scientists have found that wolves, which are well-distanced from humans, tend to avoid nasty viruses.
In a study of more than 2,000 gray wolves from the suburbs of Mexico to northern Canada, researchers found that the farther the wolf was from humans, the fewer viruses and parasites it encountered.
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Mysterious deaths amongst Danish wolves stump experts
From CHPost.DK in Denmark:
Researchers are concerned by recent findings that mortality rates amongst Danish wolves are a staggering 10 times above normal.
A new study by Aarhus University (AU) entitled ‘Where have all the young wolves gone?’ calculates the current life-expectancy of a Danish wolf to be just two years. Almost half the population have disappeared without trace since 2012.
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Washington’s wolf population grew at least 24% in 2020
From the Union-Bulletin in Washington:
There are a minimum of 178 wolves in Washington, according to new information from state and tribal biologists published in late April.
Washington’s wolf population grew at least 24% between 2019 and 2020, despite the death of 16 wolves to legal hunting, lethal removal in response to conflict and natural mortality. There were 29 packs and 16 successful breeding pairs statewide.
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Wisconsin Hunters Turn to Highway Signs in Effort to Protect Wolves
From PublicNewsService.org:
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Opposition to wolf hunts in Wisconsin is becoming more visible, and not only in public hearings or on social media. Drivers might soon notice how some hunters feel about wolves.
A new coalition, calling itself Hunters for Wolves, is behind a trio of billboards installed along roadways in northern Wisconsin. Organizers want to call attention to what they see as ethical concerns as the state prepares to update its wolf management plan.
Click here for the full story.
More Than 100 Scientists Ask Biden Administration To Restore Protections For Gray Wolves
From Wisconsin Public Radio:
More than 100 scientists have signed a letter asking the Biden administration to restore federal protections for the gray wolf.
The Trump administration announced last fall that it would remove the animal from the endangered species list across most of the country beginning in January, prompting lawsuits from environmental and wildlife groups to restore the protections. The Biden administration has said it’s reviewing the delisting, along with other agency decisions as part of a broad executive order issued in January.
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Rare Red Wolves Released in North Carolina after Federal Court Ruling
From the Southern Environmental Law Center:
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Red wolf captive breeding facilities today announced the release of four rare red wolves into the wild in North Carolina, after conservation groups won a federal court ruling in January that required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a plan to release captive red wolves into the wild to avoid irreversible harm to the highly endangered population during ongoing litigation. The facilities also reported the fostering of four red wolf pups with a female wild red wolf in North Carolina.
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Montana has made killing wolves easier. Some hunters are pushing back.
From National Geographic:
Montana is making it easier to kill wildlife in the state, with a suite of bills and new laws that threatens to undermine 30 years of wolf recovery and establish new hunting standards that even many hunters say is too permissive.
New state laws will allow hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves, to bait them and hunt them at night, and to set neck snare traps; and will expand the wolf trapping season by 30 days and allow hound hunting of black bears. One law incentivizes trapping by allowing sportsmen’s organizations to pay bounties to hunters who kill wolves—a practice that critics note harkens back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the draw of government bounties drove hunters to exterminate the animals from the state.
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Wisconsin Wolf Management Faces Criticism As DNR Drafts Plan
From WUWM.com:
Perhaps no creature on the Wisconsin landscape elicits more extreme reactions than the gray wolf.
The once nearly extinct population has rebounded, and while some believe there should be no wolf hunting season, a 2011 Wisconsin state law requires an annual harvest unless the wolf is under federal protection. The debate has intensified this year after a very brief and chaotic hunt happened in February, which saw 218 wolves killed, surpassing the quota by over 80% in under 72 hours.
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