Dane County Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Wisconsin's New Wolf Management Plan

Wednesday, May 8th, 2024 -- 9:01 AM

(AP) A lawsuit filed by animal welfare advocates seeking to invalidate Wisconsin’s new wolf management plan was dismissed by a judge on Monday.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke threw out the case that accused Wisconsin wildlife officials of violating the state’s open meetings law and disregarding comments from wolf researchers and supporters, reflecting how contentious the debate over wolf management has become in the state.

Ehlke ruled from the bench, granting a motion to dismiss filed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and its board. The lawsuit was filed by the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance, also known as Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf & Wildlife.

The lawsuit alleged that Department of Natural Resources policy board members collected comments on the wolf management plan from interest groups it favored even after the public comment period ended.

The lawsuit focused on three private discussions attended by members of the board hosted by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, the Wisconsin Association of Sporting Dogs, and Wisconsin Wolf Facts.

The lawsuit alleged that even though a quorum of board members didn’t attend any of the meetings, enough of them participated to influence changes to the plan in violation of the state open meetings law.

The judge said the open meetings law did not apply to the meetings in question because there was not a sufficient number of board members present to constitute a meeting. Ehlke also rejected allegations of due process and administrative procedure violations.

The judge also rejected arguments that comments by Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance were ignored during formation of the wolf plan. The group didn’t cite any case to back up their discrimination claims, Ehlke said.

Allowing them to allege that they were discriminated against would mean that anyone could make that argument when a governmental body does something they don’t like, the judge said.

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