ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An influential group of Minnesota senators is backing a five-year moratorium on sport hunting and trapping of wolves in Minnesota.
The chief sponsor is Majority Whip Chris Eaton, D-Brooklyn Center. The co-sponsors include Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, Senate President Sandra Pappas, D-St. Paul, and Sens. David Senjem, R-Rochester, and Terri Bonoff, D-Minnetonka, according to a news release Thursday from Howling for Wolves.
Minnesota wolves were taken off the endangered list last year, and hunting and trapping resumed last fall.
Maureen Hackett, founder of Howling for Wolves, said they're trying to restore a five-year moratorium that used to be in state law for when wolves came off the list. Lawmakers lifted the moratorium when they authorized the hunt last year, citing years of delays caused by court battles over lifting the federal protections.
Hunters and trappers killed 413 wolves during the recently ended season. Hackett points out that state figures show farmers and property owners legally killed another 298 for predator control last year. The figures don't include poaching, road kills or deaths from disease.
No hearing date has been scheduled, and no companion bill has been introduced in the House.
The Department of Natural Resources says Minnesota's wolf population is stable at around 3,000 and can withstand the hunting, trapping and predator control that the state allows under its wolf management plan.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Comments (13)
Add commentFor Five Years??
Did you people bump your head??
Look where they are from.
Pictures of pretty wolves make them feel warm and fuzzy.
They quit the moose hunt and
They quit the moose hunt and can't figure out what happened to them. Other than a bullet, the only thing that will take down a moose is a pack of wolves. Moose can also get brain flukes from eating around deer, but that has always been.
298 killed by property owners?? That's only the ones they own up to.
Too bad we don't have more wolves down here. Then when they eat all the tree huggers fidos they will maybe think different.
Heiniric
You know that was my original idea for what is happening to all of the Moose. After talking to a few experts in the field, I changed my thinking. They all seems to agree that if the Moose population is directly related to the wolf population, then the deer numbers would be down too. But up where I live, the deer numbers are through the roof, and so are the wolf numbers. There are a lot of trail cams that will agree with that. If the wolf population was directly related to the moose population, then when the moose numbers go down (something like 50% in last two years) then the wolf population would decrease almost as much.
They seem to link it more to parasites (non-native) that are now able to survive in an ever changing climate (I know, righties won't buy that).
Personally, I don't like to see the wolves get killed. I'm one of these:
"Pictures of pretty wolves make them feel warm and fuzzy."
But I do understand the toll is takes on livestock and property owners. On your land you should be able to do what you need to do, but they are a very majestic animal. With as many as we have up here, I've only seen two in real life.
I'm all for the pest control wolf killing, but I'm not about to go kill one just to get a skin on the wall.
Close the season
1 yr & live trap 400ish to be relocated to metro parks!!!
Remember this name
One of the co-sponsors of this bill is Senate Minority Leader (that means republican) David Hann. Remember this name, fellow conservatives, because he has aspirations of running for governor as a republican, next time around. NOT.
Moose
I think moose are being killed by people.They need food.It's a lot of meat. Legal or not.
Macland
It's an interesting theory, however I think I disagree.
I haven't heard of a single report of anyone getting caught killing a moose illegally. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen. But I think the stats were something like 50% decline in moose population in the last two years. If people are killing them illegally, I don't think they could kill off half the population in two years.
Plus, most of the moose population in MN is the arrowhead region, where the fewest amount of people live, so criminals would have to transport a lot of moose a long way to get away with something like that.
Like I said, not necessarily discounting your idea, but I think there must be a few other factors in addition to illegal moose hunting. I was sold on the wolf idea until I started talking with experts in the field.
We may find that our warming
We may find that our warming winters and associated changes may be the culprit.
Fish
I have not picked on you in a long time sir. We may also find with our (ancestor's help) That your global HOAX is a sham??
PROVE me wrong & please do not use some ### picked out of somebody's ares hole. Remembe politican's uses the same ## to scare a person everyday. Hmm brainwashed??? Scared?
natorade
Just keep smoking that stuff you get at your co-op. You are just another lib so you have to have 50+ studies just to comprehend that U R Dumb!!! Excuse me I have to throw in that it cost the tax payers a couple of hundred a piece to tell you that.
OFB
So instead of coming up with ANY information having to do with the article, you write that. And at 10:20 p.m., was there drinks involved?