Press Release: Howling For Wolves announces 2015 legislative agenda, holds 2015 ‘Wolf Day at the Capitol’

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2015

CONTACT:
Dr. Maureen Hackett, Howling For Wolves, 612.250.5915 or Leslie Rosedahl, LWRosedahl@locklaw.com, 651.353.1818
See the agenda document here: HFW 2015 Legislative Agenda.PDF

Howling For Wolves announces 2015 legislative agenda, holds 2015 ‘Wolf Day at the Capitol’
Legislative agenda to eliminate snaring, strengthen private property rights for trapping, and support funding for farmers regarding wolf-livestock conflicts

(St. Paul, Minn) – Howling For Wolves, a Minnesota-based wolf advocacy organization, announced their 2015 legislative agenda today at “Wolf Day at the Capitol.” Over 200 wolf advocates gathered for a rally and also met with their state legislators.

The Howling For Wolves 2015 legislative agenda, announced by HFW Founder and President Dr. Maureen Hackett, supports effective, science-based, and nonlethal wolf plans to support the gray wolf population so communities and wolves can co-exist. The agenda includes:

1. Supporting a bill to end the use of snares as a method of recreational trapping.

Snares are anchored wire nooses set to catch small or medium-sized wild animals. Neck snares choke animals to death, and all snares can injure both wild and domestic animals, resulting in amputations, infections, and starvation prior to their deaths. Many larger animals like wolves are not killed quickly and suffer unnecessarily.

Twenty states have effectively eliminated the recreational use of snares on land as it is a particularly cruel method of hunting wolves and other wild animals. In Minnesota, however, snaring remains an accepted form of trapping, often injuring or killing animals unintended for the snares. The legislation that HFW supports would allow Minnesota trappers to continue the use of different forms of traps to target other wildlife, but would end wolf trapping in any form.

Howling For Wolves Founder and President Dr. Maureen Hackett explains, “Snares, the most cruel method of trapping, are unselective, as both wild and domestic animals get caught in these wire nooses that are supposed to strangle them to death. Many animals, however, are maimed and then die in a prolonged death. It’s time Minnesota join the growing number of 20+ states that have banned the horrific practice.”

Senate File 592 was officially introduced today and given its first reading in the Minnesota Senate.

2. Supporting private property rights and stronger requirements to obtain written permission from landowners before trapping on private property.

Howling For Wolves asks Minnesota to join 22 other states that have taken similar steps, and move away from our current practice that allows trapping on private land without permission from the landowner.

Senate File 591 was officially introduced today and given its first reading in the Minnesota Senate.

3. Supporting state and federal funding for nonlethal and effective methods for farmers/ranchers to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts.

Nonlethal methods, such as the use of guard animals and carcass removal, can effectively reduce wolf/livestock conflicts. HFW also supports compensation for livestock predation by wolves.  These are shared goals with the agriculture community.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF WOLVES IN MINNESOTA:
Today, Minnesota wolves have federal protection and may not be hunted. They are listed as a “threatened” species, and may be killed in the defense of human life and by government agents for livestock predation. This new status happened December 19, 2014 in a federal court decision overturning a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to delist Great Lakes wolves. Minnesota’s has had three consecutive wolf hunting and trapping seasons.

“While the recreational wolf hunt has been stopped by the federal courts for the time being, it’s important for us to make sure people – and our legislators – know the continued support for effective, science-based, and nonlethal strategies so communities and wolves can coexist. We have the largest and only remaining original wolf population in the lower 48 states, and want to protect them for future generations,” said Hackett.

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Howling For Wolves (HFW) is a wolf advocacy organization that aims to educate the public and policy-makers about wolves to foster understanding and tolerance, and to ensure their long-term survival in Minnesota. HFW seeks innovative non-lethal solutions for conflict prevention and coexistence where wolves are perceived to be a threat. We oppose the random killing of non-problem wolves for sport and the cruel methods utilized. HFW current efforts focus on the Minnesota’s gray wolves, which is the largest and only original wolf population remaining in the lower 48 states. www.HowlingForWolves.org.