Posted on 10/19/2012 5:43:48 AM PDT by SJackson
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin officials said on Wednesday that hunters killed five wolves during the first two days of the state's inaugural wolf harvest, which began this week despite opposition from animal rights groups.
The state's Department of Natural Resources said a gray wolf was trapped and killed on Tuesday in Oneida County and hunters elsewhere across the state reported four kills on Monday as the state-sanctioned effort to reduce the population began.
So far, the state has issued 638 of the 1,160 wolf-harvesting licenses it authorized for the season, which runs through February 28 or until hunters reach the quota of 201 wolves. The licenses cost $100 for state residents and $500 for hunters from outside Wisconsin.
The move to allow the hunting and trapping of the state's wolves has been opposed by some humane societies, which have filed suit challenging the use of dogs in the hunts.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I am not sure that is correct in the case of wolves. In areas where they did become extinct coyotes seemed to take up their slack in the food chain. The thinking many years ago was that wolves were too aggressive with people and livestock and bounties were paid on them until they were extinct or near extinct in many areas- yet the eco-system did not collapse that I know of.
I agree, whack em and stack em!
A landowner can shoot one at any time without a license, but they must be doing/about to do damage to your property at the time you shoot them.
I shoot ever one I see on my property, ditto for raccoons.
There is open hunting of coyotes allowed in many areas, not even a season, just an ordinary general hunting license requirement. The federal government and many state governments had many programs over the years to control and or eradicate coyotes including paying bounties, hiring professional hunters, and poisoning programs. They don’t call coyotes “wily” without reason, even after years of eradication programs the coyotes are still with us.
Controversial hunt? The wolves are against it?
Where wolves have been extirpated, some species of ungulates have grown to unsustainable levels, decimating flora and also contributing to rapid spread of disease, like CWD and TB, which can and do infect domesticated livestock. Such diseases kill many orders of magnitude more domesticated herds than do carnivorous predators.
The North American Model of Conservation has as its cornerstone responsible hunting. It’s proven to have saved bison, raptors, ungulates, and many other species that are both critical for ecological balance and that hunters and wildlife viewers enjoy.
I think you’d find that most wildlife managers agree that domesticated herds need protection, but that exterminating entire species isn’t the smart way to do that.
In my area most ungulates are regulated by hunting to keep sustainable levels. No issues with related disease in livestock in my area. We also have plenty of coyotes to offset any lack of wolves. I agree about responsible hunting being key to conservation- and would like to add that responsible ranching is also key to wildlife management in that ranchers supply most of the water in the arid west (all of it where I live other than a few puddles in rainy season) Some people do not understand relationships between hunting, ranching, and management of wildlife but the relationship is critical.
In most if not all areas don’t coyote populations grow to fill the void when wolves are gone? In your opinion is there a real difference in wolves and coyotes as far as their place in the ecosystem?
“It is also sad that folk on the other side, the “kill ‘em all ones,” don’t realize that if we do just that we risk a major ecological disaster.”
There are no wolves in 99% of the country despite the fact wolves roamed and killed from border to border and sea to sea. What kind of ecological disaster now exists in those areas due to lack of wolves? I will grant you that a couple of packs would probably clean up Central Park pretty fast and those of us being dictated to by wolf huggers are more than willing to give you all you want.
There is a large body of scientific literature documenting the ecological ramifications of predator extirpation. Suffice to say that it’s proven that ungulate disease rates (and therefore domesticated herd disease rates) are higher when natural predators are removed, not to mention that flora (i.e., forest cover) and therefore avian species are substantially reduced, as well. Most responsible hunters will tell you that prey health is better when controlled numbers of natural predators are allowed to exist...long story short, it makes for nicer trophies on the wall. :)
These are all ecological ramifications. Let them continue into perpetuity, and we could see more widespread problems. Bottom line is that responsible hunters and wildlife managers agree that wolves can coexist with other species in North America. It’s the same mindset that saved bison (and a bunch of other species) from extinction.
Also, as far as I’m aware, wolves did not populate much of either coast and were essentially absent in the southeast. Not to say that they weren’t much more abundant in earlier times, but they simply did not populate 99% of North America.
Who said I didn't! :)
If control freak liberals are so keen on wolves, they should welcome their fair share to hang out in their back yard, around their kids and their pets!!
Actually yes there were wolves on the coast, one of Daniel Boone’s neighbors was killed by wolves. Body fluids, including blood is the way many diseases, including brucellosis. Pretty hard to insist that wolves prevent the spread of disease when the incidence in both wild and domestic animals has increased so dramatically. There are tons of fresh bloody tissue lying around in the Yellowstone area every day. The raven and crow populations have increased hugely, brucellosis has exploded in the area. CWD is spreading further and further from the Colorado research center where it was accidently released, and deeper into Wyoming. Neither increasing populations of lions nor wolves has stopped it.
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