DNR Provides Wolves Numbers
Sunday, September 8th, 2019 -- 6:21 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -New figures from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources show that between 914 to 978 wolves lived in the Badger State during the past year.According to a report released by the agency last week, volunteer trackers collected data from April 2018 to April 2019 by monitoring snow tracks, recovering dead wolves, investigating wolf attacks, and collecting other observations from the public. The report also indicated that there was a slight increase in the number of wolf packs in Wisconsin, as well as the number of wolves killed by vehicle collisions or illegal hunting. As many as 5,000 wolves once roamed the state, but hunting efforts in the 1970s reduced that number to around 25 by 1980.
The federal government delisted the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes region in 2012. But animal rights groups convinced a judge to place further protections on the animals two years later. Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing such protections nationwide. Many Wisconsin farmers support that effort, as more than two dozen animals have been attacked by wolves in the state since the beginning of the year.
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