Press Release: Howling For Wolves announces 2016 Legislative Priorities, holds ‘Wolf Day 2016 at the Capitol’

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2016

CONTACT:
Dr. Maureen Hackett, Howling For Wolves, 612.250.5915 or Leslie Rosedahl, LWRosedahl@locklaw.com, 651.353.1818

Howling For Wolves announces 2016 Legislative Priorities,
holds ‘Wolf Day 2016 at the Capitol’

Legislative priorities include removing the automatic wolf trophy hunt in Minnesota law, advancing commonsense trapping reforms, and supporting state and federal funding for nonlethal methods to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts

(St. Paul, Minn) – Howling For Wolves, a Minnesota-based wolf advocacy organization, announced their 2016 legislative priorities today at “Wolf Day 2016 at the Capitol.” Over 200 wolf advocates gathered for a rally and also met with their state legislators.

The Howling For Wolves 2016 legislative priorities, announced by Howling For Wolves Founder and President Dr. Maureen Hackett, supports effective, science-based, and nonlethal wolf plans to support the gray wolf population so communities and wolves may co-exist. The agenda includes:

1. Remove the automatic wolf trophy hunt in Minnesota and protect wolves from imminent threats to the endangered species act.

Despite protections under the Endangered Species Act, recreational wolf hunting and trapping seasons remain in state law and would automatically go into effect the moment federal protections are lifted. This risk is ever-present, as anti-wolf factions continue to appeal the federal court ruling and pressure Congress to remove the wolf’s protection under the ESA. Howling For Wolves seeks to prevent irrational wolf policies that focus on killing wolves and ensure a stable, effective, and science-based approach in Minnesota.

“Because recreational wolf hunting and trapping seasons remain in state law, Minnesota wolves are constantly on the brink of being killed as trophies the moment federal protections are lifted. This risk is ever-present, as anti-wolf factions continue to appeal the federal court ruling and pressure Congress to remove the wolf’s protection under the Endangered Species Act,” said Howling For Wolves Founder and President Dr. Maureen Hackett.

2. Advance common sense trapping reforms to:

Eliminate snaring – a type of trapping that uses cheap wire nooses to catch animals. Snares kill non-targeted animals, including dogs, pheasants, wolves, moose, and songbirds. They’re meant to choke the animal to death, but often grab other body parts creating amputations, disembowelment, and fatal disabilities. Larger animals (like wolves) often suffer horrific injuries and die slowly and painfully. Twenty (20) states have effectively eliminated the recreational use of snares because it is a non-targeted and cruel method of killing wild animals.

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 this horrific practice of killing wild animals.”

Require written permission to trap on private property. Howling For Wolves seeks to have Minnesota join 22 other states that support private property owners and stronger requirements to obtain clear, written permission from a landowner to set traps on someone’s private property.  Current Minnesota law allows trappers to set traps on private property without the landowner’s permission, unless it is agricultural land or adequately posted that trespass is prohibited.  Wisconsin has required permission to hunt/trap on someone’s land since 1995. To hunt/trap on private lands in Wisconsin, you must get permission from the landowner.

3. Help farmers, wolves, and communities coexist by supporting smart and nonlethal strategies that prevent conflicts

Reducing predation on livestock and supporting farmers/ranchers is a shared goal with the agriculture community. Nonlethal methods—such as the use of guard animals, fences, lights, and carcass removal—have been shown to reduce wolf-livestock conflicts. In addition to compensation for losses from predation, Howling For Wolves supports Minnesota pursuing federal funding (which is already being awarded to other states for this same purpose) for effective and nonlethal methods for farmers/ranchers to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF WOLVES IN MINNESOTA:
Today, Minnesota wolves have federal protection and there is not a hunting season. 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 change in status occurred on December 19, 2014 in a federal court decision overturning a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to delist Great Lakes wolves. Prior to that court decision Minnesota had three consecutive wolf hunting and trapping seasons.

###

Howling For Wolves is a Minnesota-based wolf advocacy organization working to educate the public and policy-makers about wolves, to foster understanding and tolerance, and to ensure their long-term survival in the wild. HFW supports effective, science-based, and nonlethal wolf plans to support and promote human and gray wolf coexistence into the future.

March 23, 2016