Just as it looked like the growing, recovered population of Western Great Lakes (WGL) gray wolves was going to be taken off the federally endangered species list and returned to state management, a new roadblock threatens long delayed delisting. This time the hurdle is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) latest proposed Endangered Species Act (ESA) delisting rule inexplicably finding that there are now two separate wolf species roaming Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Director of Federal Affairs Bill Horn, who is a former Assistant Secretary of the Interior in charge of the FWS and ESA, joined Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources’ Secretary Cathy Stepp at a press conference last week to challenge the FWS’s two species proposal.
The FWS has issued proposed regulations (for a third time) to remove the WGL population of gray wolves from the endangered species list. Since the WGL wolf numbers exceed recovery goals by 600 to 1,000 percent, delisting is fully warranted. But the proposed delisting rule includes a nasty surprise: it says there are two separate wolf species in the WGL region – gray wolves (Canis lupus) and eastern wolves (Canis lycaon). The FWS does not know how many of each roam the region, but still believes gray wolves are recovered.
“This ‘two species’ finding is a trick deal which undermines needed WGL wolf delisting,” stated Bill Horn, USSA Director of Federal Affairs. “Since the FWS acknowledges it does not know how many of the nearly identical eastern wolves (C. lycaon) are present in the WGL region, the agency cannot scientifically demonstrate that gray wolf (C. lupis) numbers do in fact meet recovery goals. Animal rights opponents of wolf delisting (and state management) will jump all over this fatal flaw in their next round of federal court filings.”
In fact, the best scientific data demonstrates – and almost all wildlife professionals agree – that the WGL wolves are a single discrete population that is more than recovered. In contrast, one FWS staff biologist has advanced the suspect two species theory that undermines delisting. This is counter to other information about the WGL wolves.
A recent affidavit filed by the US Sportsmen’s Alliance included conclusions by Dr. Lissette Waits, one of the nation’s wildlife and wolf genetics experts. This information emphatically concluded that there are not two separate wolf species in the Western Great Lakes region. Dr. Waits holds a PhD in Genetics from the University of Utah and is a tenured associate professor of Fish and Wildlife Resources at the University of Idaho. She has worked on the intersection between genetics and wildlife management, is a member of the FWS red wolf recovery team, has led a red wolf contract research project for FWS, and has studied gray wolves and wolf/coyote hybridization as well.
Wisconsin DNR also agrees that there is only one species present and that the wolves are fully recovered. Its wolf population surveys show more than 1,000 animals in a single population that continues to grow and expand. Growing numbers of unmanaged wolves cause biological problems (excessive predation) and social troubles as well; wolves are well known for preying on domestic animals, including dogs, horses, and cattle. State wildlife officials are barred from managing wolves until the animals are taken off the federal list of endangered species by the FWS.
“For years, science has shown that these wolves have far exceeded recovery goals,” said Rob Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance vice president of government affairs. “Additionally, we hope that the Service will look at the prevailing scientific facts that show only one wolf population exists within the Western Great Lakes region, and it will avoid letting the antis use this unsupported claim as another roadblock to rightfully returning wolves to state management.”
Why the FWS has taken this two species proposal step, contrary to the best scientific evidence, remains unknown. USSA is concerned Obama Administration politics are to blame. “This trick deal allows the Administration to tell the Western Great Lakes states and hunters that it favors delisting, while winking and nodding to its activist pals that delisting is set up to fail,” said Horn.
Wolves are well documented for causing damage to private property and for reducing deer herds. Packs of WGL gray wolves have attacked hunting dogs, livestock and pets across the region where the large canines roam. Wisconsin DNR chief legal counsel Tim Andryk reports that the plentiful wolves in that state have cost his department more than $1 million in restitution fees to reimburse owners for killed livestock, hunting dogs, and killed and consumed pets. Nearly a dozen dogs –most of them hunting dogs–have been killed by wolves this year in Wisconsin—and hunting seasons open there soon, and more dogs will be harm’s way.
Joining the USSA in its position on one-wolf, one-problem exists are: Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, Dairyland Committee of Safari Club International Chapters of Wisconsin, Whitetails of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Firearms Owners, Rangers, Clubs, and Educators, Inc.
