The wolf, Maiingan, is considered sacred by the Ojibwe and fgures highly in their creation stories.

In describing
their inextricable relationship with the wolf, Ojibwe often speak of their creation story, which says that whatever
happens to one will happen to the other. In a way, the wolf hunt imposed on our frst nations is environmental
racism.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WISCONSIN'S WOLVES, COEXISTING WITH WOLVES,
AND TO HELP STOP THE TROPHY HUNT: VISIT WWW.FOTWW.ORG
1. This wolf hunt is nothing more than a trophy hunt to appease
extremist hunting groups like the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association,
Wisconsin Trappers Association, Wisconsin Bow Hunters Association,
Safari Club Wisconsin Chapter, The NRA, the Wisconsin Wildlife
Federation, Wisconsin Conservation Congress and anti-wildlife
agriculture interests. The fact that the bill that authorized this hunt was
introduced the very day that wolves were removed from the ESA list
shows the true motivation of the legislators and those who wrote the bill
for them. Now those special interest groups serve on the Wolf Advisory
Committee who help decided the hunting quota and the future of how
many wolves Wisconsin should have. Scientifc experts on wolves have
been replaced to the highest political bidder.
2. The majority of the Wolf Advisory Committee want 350 wolves or less,
far below the amount of wolves the state can biologically support. The
350 wolves number comes from an outdated plan when scientists
thought that wolves could be removed from "life support" and was never
intended as a cap.
3. Wolves were not introduced to Wisconsin. With protection, wolves
were able to migrate into our state naturally from Minnesota. Wolves
have never injured or killed a person, adult or child, in the State of
Wisconsin. The fear of wolves can be traced back to myth and fables from
European immigrants. Cows, however, have killed 107 people and deer
have killed 34 people.
4. Wisconsin has 5.7 million people, at least 1.4 million deer, and now
only 650 wolves. The grossly exaggerated depredation claims are also
highly dubious because of their use of justifcation for this wolf hunt. The
general public is not aware that any livestock loss of over 2.3% is
automatically considered a wolf depredation and is paid for out of the
depredation fund. Missing calves are also automatically attributed to
wolves if there is evidence of wolf activity and ONE confrmed wolf
depredation in a year. This gravy train program paid out in excess of
$190,000 in 2012 alone for 257 missing calves. There was ZERO
evidence that wolves were responsible for any of these missing
animals.
5. Also extremely concerning is the continued reimbursement for bear
hounds that are killed by wolves, to date, over half a million dollars of tax
payer money . If a person allows packs of hunting dogs to run loose
through wolf habitat, unattended, that is a risk that they should be
responsible for. The State of Wisconsin absolutely should not be
reimbursing irresponsible bear hunters who allow their hounds to run
rampant through the woods terrorizing wildlife. Wisconsin is the ONLY
state that allows this payout to people who engage in this cruel practice
with your tax dollars. We have a projected 1.8 billion dollar defcit but our
state thinks 2500 dollars for dog killed by wolves, that clearly is a weapon
and not a pet, is justifed.
6. Wolf populations are self limiting, meaning they do not need the same
type of management as deer. According to a new study by Utah State
University ecologist Dan MacNulty, competition from other wolves is the
way wolf numbers stay within predator/prey boundaries. Rather, the No.
1 cause of death during the study period was other wolves. They need
more than simply food, MacNulty said. Thats sort of an unappreciated
aspect of their biology.
7. Representatives from the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association
admitted before the Senate Natural Resources Committee that they
along with seven attorneys wrote this bill. Is it any surprise that the bill
contained provisions that allow packs of six dogs to go after wolves? This
is a recipe for disaster and will lead to many dogs and wolves being
killed. Along with Wisconsins shameful act of allowing packs of dogs to
go after coyotes, they now allow wolves to be targeted as well. Wisconsin
has essentially legalized dog fghting, and is again the only state in the
Union that allows packs of dogs to go after wolves. Contrary
to assurances from pro-hound hunting groups there are
many instances where the hound hunters allow their
dogs to attack and kill wild animals. To date in
2014, 16 hounds have been killed by wolves. A wolf cannot climb a tree,
they will stand and fght. This also teaches wolves that all dogs are a
threat to their survival.
8. A social survey done by the Wisconsin DNR this year found that even
among people who live with wolves and in wolf range, the majority of
citizens want the current number of wolves we have or more. Wisconsin
loves it's conservation heritage and there is not a better success story
than the wolf. Despite attempts in the media to instill fear in our citizens,
our citizens have shown that wolves belong to Wisconsin.
9. Wolves fll an important ecological role, and do so with their numbers
as close to biological capacity as possible. They are a keystone species,
one that has a disproportionate impact on its environment relative to its
abundance. Since their return to Wisconsin, wolves have beneftted this
ecosystem by regulating prey numbers and movementsallowing
streambank habitats to recover, reducing densities of coyotes, and
providing food for scavengers. They even have helped combat some of
the efects of climate change and increased plant and bird populations.
The removal of over 2/3rds of the states wolves may have a greater
environmental impact than that of the Penokee Mine.
10. Wolves help the Wisconsin deer and elk herd. By selecting young, old,
physically impaired, or diseased animals the entire herd of deer is
healthier. Unlike humans who tend to shoot healthy adult deer, wolves
take the easiest opportunity and even ease sufering with a quick death
of sick deer. By reducing prey numbers, dispersing these animals on the
landscape, and removing sick animals, wolves also reduce the
transmission and prevalence of wildlife diseases such as chronic wasting
disease and lyme disease.
11. Wolves are in serious jeopardy. 2012-2013 = 230 moralities;
2013-2014 = 362 mortalities. This includes unknown, natural,
depredation control, vehicle collision, illegally killed and legally killed.
We know from research at the University of Wisconsin that poaching is
much higher levels as this is based on recovered wolves. TOTAL OF 592
wolves not including poached wolves never recovered. At this level, we
are looking at regional extinction of the wolf in Wisconsin.
12. There are serious consequences of killing wolves recreationally that
include the efects on the social dynamics resulting from the loss of key
pack members: if an alpha female is killed, that pack is unlikely to
reproduce that year. If a packs only big male is killed, that may result in
diminishing the packs food base, because big males are key to killing
prey located and chased down by other pack members. This can drive
young wolves to turn to killing livestock for food.
13. Wolves are very social animals. They live and hunt together in groups
called packs. A wolf pack is really just another name for a family of
wolves. A pack is usually made up of an adult male and female wolf and
their ofspring of various ages. They play, hunt, display afection, grieve
and communicate in the most amazing ways, just like your dogs do.
14. Wolf hunting hurts our economy. The wolves in our forests are greatly
valued by nature photographers, hikers and other nature lovers The
demographics of Wisconsin citizens are changing quickly. This in itself
makes them important, even before considering their contribution to
maintaining a healthy balance of nature and economic impact. The Wolf
as the symbol of wild nature is also a noticeably important image in our
state's tourism. Wolf-watching tourism could also bring fnancial proft to
the state, where special tours with listening to the howling and
photographing wolves far more proftable than killing them. Everything
connected to wolves attracts people and can add substantial value to our
nature tourism sector and real estate values.
15. Many people think that the wolves hunting were shot with guns,
adult animals and died quickly. Unfortunately, the majority of wolves
killed, were killed with use leg hold or snare traps, were under a year old
(pups) and greatly most sufered.
THERE'S A WAR!
ON WOLVES IN WISCONSIN