WOLF MANAGEMENT: Hanging up the traps

Grand Forks Herald ^ | August 19, 2007 | John Myers

[skeptoid]

Bill Paul walked down a rutted logging road on a farm north of town, pointing out signs of wolves.

Tracks crossed the soft sand. Scat laced with deer hair was obvious. Yet the half-dozen wolf traps Paul had set the past few days remained unsprung.

Score Round 1 for the wolf. But cut a little slack for Paul, who retired Friday after more than 30 years as a federal wolf trapper.

[skeptoid]

It was sort of a career goal of mine to see the wolf recovered and off the endangered species list. I never thought it would happen, but it has. “I don't particularly like killing wolves,” he added. “But I like to think I helped the wolf recover in Minnesota.”

Interesting perspective.

SNIP .. One night, he trapped seven on a farm.

SNIP .. In northern Minnesota, based out of Grand Rapids, the agency's primary target is timber wolves - a seemingly incongruous job in a region where wolves have been carefully nurtured from just a few hundred animals in the 1970s to about 3,200 today.

[skeptoid]

OOPS

I was trying for CHAT/GENERAL