MADISON – The Department of Natural Resources has re-established a caution area for individuals training bear dogs this year after wolves injured a dog being trained for bear hunting in southwestern Lincoln County about 12 miles west-southwest of Merrill. A map of the caution area is available at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/mammals/wolf/dogdepred.htm#lincoln2  This area is the known home range of the Big Rib/South Averill Creek wolf pack, and bear dog trainers have been cautioned about this area previously.

The DNR maintains a listing of all state caution areas at Department of Natural Resources web pages.

The wolf attack apparently occurred when the dogs got too close to the pack's rendezvous site, where the pups are left behind during summer months. The Big Rib/South Averill creek pack consisted of 5 wolves last winter before pups were born in the spring. This pack has previously been involved in depredations on dogs in 2006

This was the first attack by wolves on dogs during the current bear hound training season. Historically, wolf attacks are rare in Wisconsin; fewer than 10 percent of state wolf packs attack dogs.

“Dogs owners really need to be cautious and aware of wolf packs in the areas where they’re training their dogs. Wolves are very protective of rendezvous areas and pups kept at these sites,” said Wydeven.

The gray wolf was removed from the federal endangered and threatened species list in March 2007 and is now protected under state law as a protected wild animal. Landowners may shoot wolves discovered in the act of killing, wounding or biting a domestic animal such as livestock or pets on land that they own. Such shootings must be reported to the DNR within 24 hours and the wolf carcass must be turned over to the DNR.  It is still illegal to shoot a wolf for any reason on public land or someone else’s land while hunting.

Currently there are about 138 wolf packs in the state, and more than 114 occur in areas open to hunting and training of hounds. The late winter 2007 estimate of Wisconsin’s gray wolf population is between 540 and 577 animals. 

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provides reimbursement for dogs killed by wolves, and lists areas of caution where dog depredations have occurred, to encourage hunters to exercise extra caution if they plan to hunt or train hounds in these areas. Bear hunters should try to avoid releasing hounds in areas with lots of wolf sign, and near known depredation sites. Hunters should try to stay as close to dogs as possible in areas where wolves are roaming. The DNR does not attempt to trap or remove wolves that kill dogs on public or industrial forest lands.

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USSAF Gets Nod to Enter Wolf Delisting Lawsuit

USSAF will represent hunters in suit brought by anti's to manipulate ESA

June 4, 2007 (National)

A federal judge will allow the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation to represent hunters in a lawsuit brought by anti’s that will prevent the removal of recovered wildlife populations from the federal endangered list.

On May 30, Judge Paul L. Friedman for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accepted a U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation motion to join the suit. Anti-hunters sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in April, claiming it violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it removed from the federal endangered list the distinct populations of abundant gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes region. Sportsmen are concerned that the obstruction of delistings will prevent states from resuming rightful control of healthy wildlife populations.

“Anti-hunters want to exploit some imprecise language that exists in the Endangered Species Act and use the law as a tool to eliminate hunting,” said Rick Story, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation senior vice president. “Anti-hunters don’t care whether the ESA allowed the once-troubled wolf populations to recover; they strictly want to use the ESA to ban hunting.”

Sportsmen, including those whose hunting dogs have been killed by wolves in the field, support the delisting of specific wolf populations. They want states to resume management control of the animals and establish regulations that will allow them to protect their property, including hunting dogs, from wolf attacks.

The FWS removed the Western Great Lakes wolves from the endangered list on Feb. 8 after determining that federal recovery efforts have been successful and the animals are no longer threatened.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation will collaborate with the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, and Wisconsin sportsmen Scott Meyer and Robert Stafsholt in the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs in the case against the FWS include the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Protection Institute, groups that oppose all hunting.

This is the latest lawsuit brought by the anti’s to manipulate the ESA to eliminate hunting. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation is representing sportsmen’s interests in potentially precedent-setting lawsuits in Minnesota and Maine that would ban trapping to prevent incidental catch of lynx. A suit brought in Florida would make black bears in the state off-limits to sportsmen by classifying them as a sub-species and listing them as endangered.

The USSA is also challenging a FWS proposal to list polar bears as threatened and halt hunting programs, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.

Wolf lawsuit

Information on this website can be reprinted with a citation to the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and www.ussportsmen.org

For more information about how you can protect your rights as a sportsman, contact The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, 801 Kingsmill Parkway, Columbus, OH 43229. Phone (614) 888-4868. E-Mail us at info@USSPORTSMEN.org