Free Republic

Wednesday, the Wisconsin Assembly voted 69 to 25 to concur with Senate Bill 411, sponsored by state Senator Terry Moulton (R-23), which passed in the state Senate by an overwhelming 24 to 9 vote. This bill is now with Governor Scott Walker’s desk awaiting his signature. If enacted, SB 411 will create the first wolf hunting season east of the Mississippi since the wolf’s delisting from the endangered species list. Like Assembly Bill 502, its companion bill in the Assembly sponsored by state Representative Scott Suder (R-69), SB 411 would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to establish a season...

HELENA, MONT. — The wolf population in the Northern Rockies rose in 2011 despite the removal of federal protections and hunts held in Montana and Idaho, federal wildlife officials said Wednesday. The animal's numbers rose by more than 7 percent to 1,774 wolves, as state officials look for more ways to reduce the population under pressure from hunters and ranchers who blame the predators for livestock and big-game losses. Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/07/2025566/northern-rockies-wolf-population.html#storylink=cpy

Wyoming lawmakers appear ready to change the state’s wolf management law to accommodate an agreement that Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar reached last year on ending federal protections for the animals in the state. Under the agreement, wolves could be shot on sight in much of the state. The Republican governor has made wolf management a priority, saying the animals threaten agricultural interests and other wildlife. Officials say there are about 300 wolves in the state, and Mead has said the population grows by 10 percent every year. Under the deal, Wyoming would commit to...

MADISON – At least seven wolves appear to have been illegally killed during the recently completed Nov. 19-27 gun deer hunt, according to state wildlife officials. The shootings are being investigated. “It is unfortunate that some individuals have chosen to illegally kill these wolves. We understand that there is frustration with the slow response of the federal government that would allow us to actively manage our wolf population, but it is an illegal act and a federal offense,” said Kurt Thiede, land division administrator for the state Department of Natural Resources. “What we need is federal authority to legally deal...

Some Wisconsin residents will be able hunt problem wolves as early as next week according to the state DNR. This comes after wolves were removed from the federal endangered species list last month. The DNR says landowners with wolves that have killed livestock will be able to get a permit to hunt the problem wolves by this Friday. That same day people without a permit will also be allowed to shoot a wolf if it is attacking personal property. Minnesota has also promised a brief wolf hunt, although nothing is set up yet.

The recent killing of an aggressive Mexican gray wolf by federal agents at a ranch near Winston could lead to a reassessment of the already struggling recovery effort for that species. The wolf was reportedly shot by agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services division on Dec. 14, after it paced across the porch and gazed through the window of John and Crystal Diamond’s Beaverhead Ranch home. The Diamond residence is located in Catron County, although near enough to Sierra County to be in the Winston mailing area. The wolf was killed just weeks after the Arizona Game...

Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife The alpha wolf in the Imnaha pack was collared in May and is being tracked by state biologists. A pack of wolves roaming grasslands in Eastern Oregon killed another cow over the weekend. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said a yearling heifer was found dead on a ranch east of Joseph in Wallowa County. ODFW officials said the rancher had coraled his 700 cattle Sunday night in a pasture near his home and that the wolves broke in and chased them out, killing a heifer. The wolves returned the next night...

At least two wolves chased down and killed a teacher who was jogging on a road last year outside a rural Alaska village, according to a report released Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Unanimous adoption of a controversial wolf management plan by the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission has ignited a firestorm in the hunting community, with concerns over the future viability of big game herds combining with a sense that the commission has turned its backs on sportsmen and women who pay the tab for wildlife management. Anger and frustration may turn to political action and with the Legislature convening next month, if this state’s sportsmen finally figure out how to speak with a single voice, it could be rough on lawmakers who normally pay no attention to the hook-and-bullet crowd. Hunters...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— The Anchorage Police Department reports a dog was attacked and injured by a wolf in Eagle River early Sunday morning. Otto and Theresa McLean say they called dispatchers shortly before 5 a.m. to report that a wolf had attacked their Dachshund, Sandy. The dog had just been let out of their home when the McLeans heard a yelp; they opened the door again and Sandy ran inside, while a white wolf ran away from the scene.

Hybrid offspring of coyotes and wolves have spread south along the eastern seaboard, a new DNA study confirms. Scientists already knew that some coyotes, which have been gradually expanding their range eastward, mated with wolves in the Great Lakes (map) region. The pairings created viable hybrid offspring—identified by their DNA and skulls—that have been found in mid-Atlantic states such as New York and Pennsylvania. Now, new DNA analysis of coyote poop shows for the first time that some coyotes in the state of Virginia are also part wolf. Scientists think these animals are coyote-wolf hybrids that traveled south from...

Story of the Week WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD WOLF? MamamaMEEE!! This wolf was shot recently in Drayton Valley , Alberta.which is near Edmonton about 3 hours North of Calgary. The wolf weighed over 230 lbs smashing the previous record of 175 lbs. Wouldn't want to run into this puppy in the woods. Apparently a bear hunter witnessed this wolf chase off a big black bear at his baiting station..

Environmentalist arguments that wolves do not pose a potential threat to humans took another hit when bowhunter Rene Anderson took what she is convinced was a defensive action and fatally shot a wolf that had moved aggressively to within ten feet of her on a remote ridge near Headquarters, Idaho. Anderson, speaking to this column Friday morning, said the animal loped toward her while she was elk hunting back on Sept. 25. Her story is just now moving into high gear across the Internet, and she is being supported by friends and co-workers in Pierce, a community about 13 miles...

Following approval of a revised wolf management plan by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to remove the gray wolf population in Wyoming from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Due to recovery efforts and the provisions of the revised state plan, the Wyoming wolf population is healthy and stable, current and future threats to wolves have been addressed, and a post-delisting monitoring and management framework has been developed. Today’s formal proposal follows an agreement with the state of Wyoming that serves as the blueprint for returning wolf management to...

Your Sept. 23 editorial “Way of the Wolf in Wyoming” implies that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Fish and Wildlife Service have somehow betrayed the species we worked so hard to recover. And it is recovered. Today, more than 1,650 wolves, in 244 packs, occupy the northern Rocky Mountains, exceeding recovery goals for 11 consecutive years. We understand the emotional reaction to wolf hunting, but the facts don’t support your conclusions. Wyoming’s plan will maintain a healthy wolf population...

Wolf sightings in the Blue Mountains are becoming more frequent this summer, but wildlife officials for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have yet to document firm evidence of a pack forming in the southeastern corner of the state. Paul Wik, district biologist for the department at Clarkston, said the canyons and timbered ridges southeast of Dayton have been a hot spot for wolf reports this year. Some hunters have even captured images of wolves with trail cameras, he said. "It's definitely no secret they are here," Wik said. "The only question to us is what their status is."...

MADISON, WI --(Ammoland.com)- The Department of Natural Resources firmly supports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in delisting the wolf in the upper Great Lakes states. Wisconsin has exceeded its delisting goal eight times over and must have flexibility to manage problem wolves if any support for wolves by the public is to continue. While the department is committed to long-term conservation of wolves in Wisconsin, it is critical that we be allowed to manage wildlife populations within our borders. Wisconsin has approximately 800 wolves; this is the most wolves ever counted in the state. Wolf numbers far exceed the...

Pack lives about 90 miles east of Seattle . This makes the fourth resident wolf pack in the state, and the second known pack of wolves in the Cascade Mountains ... ... The gray wolf is protected throughout Washington as a state endangered species. In the western two-thirds of Washington, the species is also federally protected under the Endangered Species Act.

A Virginia congressman wants the IRS to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- a major Muslim advocacy group -- after its tax-exempt status was revoked over an apparent problem with its paperwork. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., in a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, requested an investigation into whether the group "may have violated U.S. law in soliciting or accepting money from foreign governments or agents" during the period when CAIR "failed" to file required forms to the IRS.

Well, sporties, are you ready for 4,200 to 7,300 wolves in the Northern Rockies? Back in April, you’ll remember that Congress stuffed a “bipartisan” rider (Section 1713) into the 2011 Appropriations omnibus (Public Law 112-10). This rider supposedly de-listed Rocky Mountain gray wolves outside Wyoming, by reinstating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) so called “2009 Rule,” shot down by federal judge Donald W. Molloy last August. Section 1713 went into effect May 5. The same day, two lawsuits were filed before Molloy by Alliance for the Wild Rockies (AWR)/Wild Earth Guardians (WIGs) and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)....