The wolf hunt is on. The Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources is now accepting applications for its inaugural wolf hunting season,
as approved by the state legislature earlier this year. The first season is coming hot on
the heels of the decision earlier this year by federal officials to remove the
gray wolf from protected status, and various interest groups are still arguing
over how to best administer a hunt in Wisconsin.
The law approving Wisconsin’s hunt, 2011 Act 169, allows for
hunting and trapping of wolves as a means of population reduction and management. According to Kurt Thiede, land administrator
at the DNR, the natural resources agency has estimated the number of wolves living
in Wisconsin at 850 or more, and the agency has limited this year’s hunt to 201
kills. The Timber Wolf Alliance, an organization founded in 1987 to promote
wolf recovery, doesn’t oppose all wolf hunting, but its chief educator, Radley
Watkins, says 201 is too many to kill. “[The DNR] should have been more
cautious,” he says. The TWA asked the DNR to limit the first hunt to between
140 and 160 wolves.
The disagreement over harvestable numbers stems from another
rift over the state’s biological carrying capacity for the animal – the number
of wolves that can naturally survive in Wisconsin. When a single animal nears its own biological
capacity, Watkins says, “if you don’t shoot [it], then it might starve to death,”
reasoning that there may not be enough food for the animal to sustain
itself. However, he adds, “if you’re not
near the carrying capacity, then you are just adding to the natural death
[count].”
The problem is that no one can agree on exactly how many
wolves Wisconsin’s remaining habitats can sustain. According to the latest DNR estimates (from
1999), that figure is 500. The TWA, on the other hand, says the number could be
more like 800 – close to the DNR’s current population count of 850. (Thiede does
admit that some studies show that the capacity could be higher than 500.)
To accommodate for success or failure by hunters, there will
be 2,010 permits allotted by a lottery-style drawing. As of Friday morning,
4,726 applications had been submitted. If a hunter is unsuccessful in obtaining a
permit this year, they will be given a “preference point”; these improve their
odds of getting a permit next year.
The DNR is accepting applications until Aug. 31, and the fee
is $10. If chosen for a hunting license,
the cost is $100 for Wisconsin residents and $500 for non-residents. Each license-carrying hunter is only allowed
to hunt one wolf, and must report the kill to the DNR within 24 hours. The state will be divided into six hunting
zones, each of which will have a share of the 201 harvest limit, in proportion
to the current wolf population in that area. Once each zone’s limit is reached,
it will be closed.
The one-wolf-per-hunter limit means animal rights
organizations, or Native American tribes who view the animals as sacred, could
apply for the permits simply to sit on them, but no animal rights group that
was contacted for this story said they had any intention of doing this.
(photo by University of Illinois)
