The Wisconsin authorities’ stated a quota for wolf hunting season and hunters in Wisconsin just don’t seem to care about it. They killed 216 gray wolves in February, which is more than 82% above the quota (stated limit is 119
animals), and that definitely brought attention to animal-lovers and conservationists.
The kills all took place in less than 60 hours.. when the Wisconsin’s department of natural resources ended the season four days early, while it’s usually a week long.
Most of the animals were killed by hunters who used “trailing hounds” (the use of free-ranging dogs equipped with radio collars to chase down wolves and kill them… ).
Another disturbing fact was that a Natural resources department officials sold 1,547 permits this season, about 13 hunters per wolf under the quota’s target number. Which equated to twice as many permits as normal – and was
marked as THE HIGHEST ratio of any season so far.
State authorities’ goal was 200 wolves, and it was their attempt to stabilize their population but as Native American tribes (they typically use their allotment to protect and not kill them) claimed a quota of 81 wolves, this left 119 for the state-licensed hunters.
POSITIVE SIDES OF LEGAL PROTECTION
In the 1950’s, after years of unregulated hunting, gray wolves were extirpated from the state. Endangered Species Act came into force in 1973. and helped the population rebound.
Following the implementation of these protections, gray wolves spread from a northern Minnesota and the influence of these protections were sweeping: since the 1970’s gray wolf population that counted 1,000, the number now
totals about 6,000 in the 48 states.
A couple of lawsuits were also filed from a number of wildlife associations and organizations to which a federal judge brought a decision that the gray wolf must be put back on the Endangered Species List on December 2014. In
October 2020, the Trump administration removed them from the List.
