I received a report today from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - title Grey Wolf Depredation Update. In it the report specified that two hunting dogs were killed (and eaten) by wolves. That struck me as odd because the "reports" indicate that in the middle of summer and wolves won't attack dogs - only in winter when starving or when the dogs are close to their dens. Furthermore it happened in town not out in the wilder places... So I decided to do my research - these events were reported today 8/6/2018 in the town of Lynn - Oneida County - Wisconsin. So we have two factors that are new - 1) The dogs were taken during summer 2) They were taken from within a town. Is this pattern going to continue? You bet! Demand that they put a check on wolf populations now - not later. Basically - your protecting the wild life and preventing harm to our pets and at the same time keeping future generations of wolves from starvation. They have no natural predictor...
Doing more research I was able to dig up the towns ordinance record for Lynn. Not surprisingly - the town had notice this problem before - on page forty I found this candid paragraph:
"The wildlife habitat is abundant in the Town of Lynne due to the variety of land types, soils, woodlands and surface water present throughout the town. Wildlife species however, are down drastically. Deer herds are at an all time low. One
reason is the presence of large wolf and coyote population are taking their toll on fawns. The adult population and yearlings are down due to the Wisconsin Department of Resources poor management skills, misrepresentation of
actual wildlife numbers and extreme over harvesting. The upland game birds, turkeys, grouse,
pheasant along with small mammals such as rabbit are also at dangerously low levels, due to the
presence of wolves and coyotes going unchecked."
I would suggest to the reader that adult wolves - working in packs of two or more are exceedingly able to take down adult deer - an obvious fact that we are not collectively facing. Notice the hunters got blamed for the shortage of adult deer. Anyone doubting this fact my examine the article on identifying wolves by scat - where they will see adult deer hair in the feces.
The document was not dated but data in it was current up to 2008. The evidence is clear - deer populations and "edible" wildlife will be depleted... Once that happens - which most hunters and wild life lovers consider bad enough - the hungry animals look to livestock and our pets to stay alive.
Demand that wolves be de-listed from the protected species act and that its population be curtail by hunting and trapping. A wolf fur coat not only keeps you warm but it also sends a message to the Mascot. There is almost no way we will eliminate the wile wolf - but we can avoid disaster if we act on the information.
