Pro-wolf sentiments abounded Wednesday at the Department of Natural Resources public hearing about de-listing the gray wolf.
The hearing was one of five public hearings being held by the DNR to allow the public to comment on the plan to declassify the status of the gray wolf in Wisconsin from \threatened"" to ""protected."" Meetings were also held in Spooner and Stevens Point Wednesday night and in Rhinelander and Black River Falls today.
The concern from some citizens centered on the possibility of the hunting lobby in Wisconsin convincing the DNR to go from the current threatened status directly to a ""furbearing"" status for the wolf, which could be the first step in a DNR-controlled hunting season on wolves.
""I have come to speak truth to power. I stand against your de-listing of the wolf and killing agenda,"" said Patricia Randolph, a citizen from Portage.
The Wolf Management Plan from the DNR states the threshold for de-listing wolves from a threatened species is maintaining a population of 250 individuals for one year, which the Wisconsin wolves have met. According to DNR statistics, there are currently 335 wolves living outside of Indian reservations in Wisconsin. If the proposed de-listing occurs, the wolf would become a ""protected nongame species"" similar to the badger.
""This [change of status] will not change wolf management drastically,"" said Randle Jurewicz, staff biologist for the Wisconsin DNR. Jurewicz said there was little the DNR could change in management practices, including authorizing a public harvest, until the Federal Fish and Wildlife Commission remove the wolf from the Federal threatened species list.
""It would be a quantum leap from where we are now to have a public harvest. It will probably happen, but it took us three years to come up with the current wolf management plan and it will probably take another three to talk about hunting wolves,"" said Jurewicz.
The threshold for federal de-listing is only 100 individuals combined in Michigan and Wisconsin. There are currently about 600 in this area. Even though the FFWC has started the proceedings in motion to remove the wolf from the threatened species list in all of the upper Midwest states, Jurewicz estimates it will be a few years before this happens.
""Whether you are pro-wolf or antiwolf, [wolves] are going to have to be managed one way or another,"" said Carl Anderson of the Timber Wolf Alliance. ""I am support of the [DNR] plan.""
Approximately 40 citizens attended to share their views on the topic. For those that could not attend, the DNR will accept written comments until Nov. 21.
