Founder's Blog

MN Farmer Calls for Non-lethal Methods & Best Management Practices

February 5, 2014 - Kathleen Zweber

My name is Kathleen Zweber.  I live and work on a small farm just north of Duluth, MN on the shores of Lake Superior. My home is surrounded by acres of wild watershed land that is home to a variety of animal species, including wolves.

As a farmer and a hunter, I believe that everyone shares a responsibility to understand the importance of different animal species and to help maintain balance in the environment we share with them.  Keeping domestic livestock and pets comes with a reasonable and manageable risk of conflict with wild animals that may be attracted to them as easy prey.   While I acknowledge the risk, I do not consider predators like wolves to be a threat.

The real threat is human activity.  People who carelessly leave garbage outside or purposely bait hunting targets increase that risk of conflict by teaching wild animals that humans can be a source of easy food.  It is no coincidence that fishers, fox and wolves began exploring closer to homes, or that domestic animals disappeared from my neighborhood as soon as wild predators learned that neighbors were setting “bear bait” in the woods last summer.    Prior to that, the only wildlife conflict I experienced were isolated incidents with migrating raptors.

When I researched the laws and policies of baiting wild animals, I was disappointed to learn how little baiting activity is regulated.  Although I was able to find restrictions for baiting in proximity to landfills and campsites, I was unable to find protection for businesses like mine… or for the licensed daycare located a half mile down my road.

Given the fact that baiting wild animals has so few restrictions, I feel like I have little control over the disruptions on my farm or in my neighborhood as a result of the actions of others.  As I researched more options and sought advice, I learned of funds available to compensate for animals lost to depredation and that there are circumstances under which I could legally kill predators that attack them.  These are clearly described in the 2001 Minnesota Wolf Management Plan.  Also included in the 2001 Plan are ”Best Management Practices” (BMPs) –non-lethal methods that reduce or prevent livestock depredation.

I believe that it is far more efficient to fund and study methods that PREVENT conflict with wildlife than it is to react to it once it occurs, and that information about BMPs should continue to be developed, tested and updated, and be readily available to anyone who lives in proximity to wolves. In addition to a need to continue to develop and study BMPs, there is strong evidence to suggest that disrupting packs and family units by killing predators may contribute to an increase in depredation.

As someone whose life and livelihood already involves risk of conflict with wolves, I do not feel that it is worth taking a chance that the recreational hunting, trapping and killing wolves could actually increase the incidents of depredation, especially when hunters use bait.

Science has already shown us that the environment becomes even more dangerous when people attempt to “sanitize” property of the animals they fear.  The list of consequences is long and the effects of those consequences are felt by many.  For example, the increase in tick-borne diseases is linked to the killing of predators that prey on the animals that carry such diseases.  This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg… a much bigger iceberg than can be discussed here.

As the 2001 Wolf Management Plan states, non-lethal methods are proven and available. But now in 2014, Minnesota has yet to adopt them.  BMPs offer acceptable and effective alternatives to minimize the risks of conflict between our domestic animals and the predators around us by keeping our wild neighbors wary and distant. Yes, there will be times when lethal force is needed, but increased funding and use of non-lethal methods can offer ways to reduce and prevent that need.  BMPs will be even more successful if people stop the dangerous activities that teach wild animals to do the opposite, such as baiting them.

As a Minnesota citizen and taxpayer, I feel that it is reasonable to expect the DNR and the rest of our State government to reflect the views and interests of the people it serves.  We are diverse, but we have also demonstrated the willingness and ability to work together to protect our natural and economic resources.   As a rural resident with a farm-based business, my life and career depend on the health of the ecosystem I am a part of.  I have a personal and professional responsibility to understand and protect that ecosystem, including wolves, and feel it is reasonable to expect the partnership of my fellow citizens and my government in doing so.

Whether we live in the city or the country, we are all Minnesotans.  Therefore, we all have a duty to understand the environment and coexist with wildlife in ways that are based in science and ethics rather than stereotypes or emotions.

* Kathleen Zweber testified at the House Environment & Natural Resources Committee hearing on wolf management held on 1/28/14*

 

The Real Purpose of the Hunt: Recreation

January 9, 2014 - Maureen Hackett

This week MN2020 published a well-written commentary on the wolf hunt that unfortunately is based on the erroneous assumption that the wolf hunt was for population management purposes.  The wolf hunt was for recreational purposes.  This was stated in writing by the MN DNR in their response to the petition for rulemaking change that they wrote before the first wolf hunt in the fall of 2012. 

The wolf population in MN was stable and not expanding in size or in territory without a hunt for 10 years from 1998-2008.  Unfortunately, a baseline survey was not conducted prior to hunting wolves for recreational purposes for the first time ever. So it is unclear if the unexpected 25% drop in wolf numbers and the continuing decline in pack size that is occurring since measurements were started (now 4.3 wolves per pack) after the first hunt is a consequence solely of the hunt or if it is due to the many other sources of deaths that wolves face. 

We have no experience with hunting a social animal like the wolf where individuals in the social group of the pack matter.  If we ever have a problem with too many wolves we know one thing for certain: we are very capable of killing wolves.  We do not need a recreational hunt to do this and a recreational hunt seems to fuel the wolf hate, which is the driving reason for the wolf's demise.

Howling For Wolves continues to advocate for a suspension of the wolf hunt to more carefully assess the state's wolf management which involves lightened state laws surrounding killing wolves that are perceived to be a threat and lightened poaching penalties along with all of the other challenges that wildlife face to survive in a changing climate.  Killing wolves by humans has consequences for several to many years to a wolf population that needs to be more carefully understood.  It is important that people understand the real purpose of the wolf hunt: recreation.

 

Sound Advice To Ely, MN Mayor Ross Peterson: Don't Bite the Paw That Feeds You

December 26, 2013 - Maureen Hackett, MD

Sound Advice to Ely Mayor Ross Peterson: Don’t Bite the Paw That Feeds You

In his response to the pro-wolf rally sponsored by Howling For Wolves on November 9, Mayor Ross Peterson rejected fair and balanced public debate about recreational wolf hunting and trapping. This diminished the prospect of reconciling Ely’s citizens with the wolves that propel its economy.

Visitors to Ely spend at least $3 million each year to visit the International Wolf Center, to learn about the life-history of the canid species and the myriad ways wolves enliven its heritage. Others spend millions more at Ely’s flagship resorts, restaurants and retailers. In the process, they meet up with the wilderness and learn more about the scientific and logistical ways we can achieve coexistence with a species that exhibits only slight genetic separation from domestic dogs.

In its recent petition, Howling For Wolves (HFW) captured over 55,000 signatures to encourage our DNR and legislature to end recreational hunting and trapping of wolves.

In fact, our DNR's 2012 online survey reported that 79% of respondents opposed the hunting and trapping of Minnesota’s wolves. So, if even a small percent chose to boycott Ely because Mayor Peterson rejects peaceful wildlife advocacy, what effect might this have on Ely’s hard-won family businesses?

On November 9, 2013 Mayor Peterson portrayed the HFW rally as a "negative" assembly. In The Echo, he decried our “ignorance" and expressed the wish that organizations such as ours gather “in some other town." Continually, Howling For Wolves has promoted Ely as a wilderness destination supporting its community and wolf-friendly commerce. We never expected to be shunned by the mayor.

It is unfortunate that a politician appointed by the people to protect Ely’s welfare dares bite the paw that feeds it. The paw of the wolf resembles that of the domestic dog; the wolf holds fast to its position in our ecosystem despite our abuse. The wolf helps preserve the vitality of regional plants and animals for those who follow us. The wolf helps us experience true wild and recognize our humanity.

The mayor argues that, "hunting…helps keep the wolf wild," ignoring the fact that last year's hunt reduced Minnesota’s gray wolf census to its lowest level since 1988. It also overrides the fact that our DNR failed to follow protocols outlined in its own Wolf Management Plan. And ultimately we can already kill wolves consider a "perceived" threat to people livestock and pets.  

HFW is concerned about Mayor Peterson's unfiltered public communications in which he describes peaceful wolf advocates with disparaging remarks. In one, he discourages a couple who planned to launch a wolf-friendly business in Ely, stating: “…don't try to start a business... We have a couple families a year that go back to where they came from broke because they tried to start a business …here.”

Still, Mayor Peterson attempts to advance Ely as an anti-wolf wilderness area. It is an oxymoron which levels a total knock out to all the tough-minded families who developed wolf-friendly businesses. Howling for Wolves, therefore, joins with the citizens of Ely, who have developed a pro-wolf culture and generated commerce which operates within natural limits.

Our supporters are rural and urban; Democrats, Republicans and Independents; hunters and non-hunters, farmers and non-farmers, men and women in occupations from students to professionals, who recognize the importance of growing  local economies in tandem with fair wolf-management statutes. Together, we can put an end to “wolf wars” and reduce the tensions to which they subject us.

Those who desire to drive wolf numbers down to levels that put the wolf at risk of a catastrophic decline are biting the paw that helped sustain Ely for over 150 years. That precedent is one Mayor Peterson can neither deny nor minimize. And while he admonishes Howling for Wolves, we place wolf-tolerant communities such as Ely front-and-center as we move forward.

In this light, Howling for Wolves extends its hand to Mayor Peterson and to Ely's people with hope of reconciliation and the continued coexistence of Ely’s people with the wolves “at their door,” who fortify their regional ecosystem and by extension their wilderness economy.

We won’t bite the paw that feeds Ely, and we ask that reconciliation occur between Howling for Wolves and the Peterson Administration -- on terms which allow both local entrepreneurs and gray wolves to survive.

 

 

Dr. Hackett Supports Isle Royale Wolf Genetic Additions/Rescue

November 21, 2013 - Maureen Hackett, MD

The following was sent today via email: 

Dear Isle Royale National Park Service Leadership and Personnel:

Thank you for coming to St. Paul, MN on November 19, 2013 and for discussing the situation of the ongoing study of the wolves on Isle Royale.  I learned a great deal from attending your presentation.

Thank you to Superintendent Phyllis Green, Paul Brown and Mark Romanski for speaking with me after the talk.  In our discussion, Superintendent Green and I spoke about the need for more understanding and study of the social nature and lives of wild wolves.  Since Isle Royale is free from human-caused wolf mortality, it does offer a unique opportunity to observe wolf interactions free from the perturbations caused by humans killing wolves. While Isle Royale is a geography with limitations of space, it does offer a study opportunity to observe wolves free from human caused mortality. Understanding the dynamics and stress on wolves under these space limitations, but free of human caused mortality is a unique but necessary study opportunity. The best way to continue this work uninterrupted, would be best done by adding new genetically unrelated wolves to the current population.  This addition of individual wolves will give information that will not be possible if the study were to allow the wolves to die off and then to simply re-introduce wolves at a later time.

If the current wolf population is allowed to die off (the time frame unclear) with the idea of introducing a new group at a later time, then the data that can be used on the wolves currently present will be less useful. Information about the current wolves will inform research that will be continued with the addition of more individuals now, rather than interrupt the social system that is already in place with the current wolves.  Given the pressures on wolves all over the world from human killing, it is my opinion that the wolf population in its current form on Isle Royale will provide more information about the social lives of wolves with the addition of new wolves rather than allow this population to die off and simply replace them.  It seems that wolf populations all over the world are being perturbed in ways that makes understanding their social lives nearly impossible. The current Isle Royale wolves can allow for more information about their social interactions free from human caused mortality and this will inform our wolf policies in other places.  I am in support of the addition of new genetics to the Isle Royale wolves as soon as possible.

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to voice my opinion.  

Sincerely,

Maureen Hackett, MD
Founder and President
Howling For Wolves
www.howlingforwolves.org

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