George Wuerthner sent me this 18 minute video of Wisconsin's Mammalian Ecologist, Adrian Wydeven, reviewing the status of Wolves in his State as of 2011.............The minimimum mid-winter count stands at about 800 Wolves........This doubles in the Spring when pups are born and then gradually falls back to the 800 or so level as Fall and Winter set in(pup mortality, wildlife services removal of so called problem animals)..............The general consensus of Wisconsin DNR is to get the wolves federally delisted.............The last stated population goal for wolves was 350, allegedly based on what DNR felt humans would tolerate...................The 800 wolves on the ground now only kill a total of 70 cattle and sheep annually which the USDA tells us is roughly 0.39% of all livestock deaths in the State.............Clearly, Wolves which currently occupy the entire Norther tier of Wisconsin along with a mid-state presence could expand further without being a major cause of death to Wisconsin cows and sheep...............While every State biologist seems to shill for farmers and hunters, at least Mr. Wydeven does concede(grudgingly) that wolves are important trophic carnivores and likelty are responsible for expanding grouse populations due to mesocarnivores(coyotes, foxes, racoons) being minimized by the wolves..................a worthwhile video to watch and peek in on the tonality and atmospherics of State Wildlife meetings

From: George Wuerthner <gwuerthner@gmail.com

Sent: Sun Sep 18 19:32:52 2011
Subject: Wisconsin wolf powerpoint FYI

 

This is a good overview of wolves in Wisconsin today. It has some relevance to other parts of the country. One thing that is interesting is how many fewer wolves are killed in Wisconsin compared to western states even though wolf numbers in Wisconsin are now in the 800 plus range.

http://dnrmedia.wi.gov/main/Viewer/?peid=2b8495207ace43ac8104d72d5d89222e