Madison- Today, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) will launch a 6-day hunt on Wisconsin’s gray wolves, with a quota, established in days, of 200 wolves, as required by a court case brought by the hunting group, Hunter Nation.
In response, Wisconsin Sierra Club Chapter Director Elizabeth Ward issued the following statement:
“We’re disturbed to see the wolf hunt launch with practically no process or public engagement. Gray wolves just lost their endangered species protections in January, there is no reason to rush a wolf hunt weeks later.
In addition to setting an aggressive kill quota of 200 wolves, the Natural Resources Board insisted on issuing 4,000 wolf hunting and trapping licenses—which wolf experts calculate to mean that there will at least 4 hunters and trappers for every wolf in the state, and 16 hunters for every wolf pack in the state. This extreme allocation is an unprecedented and extreme departure from sound, science-based wildlife practices on the part of Wisconsin DNR. No doubt this hunt is an insult to science, democracy and good conscience.
The DNR needs time to step back and create a thorough, inclusive, equitable, fair, and science-based planning process that includes public input, broad stakeholder engagement, and full consultation with the Tribes. This court decision rushed decisions that should take months into a few days. That is not how sound decisions are made.”
