By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
ENGADINE, Mich. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is proposing to delist the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Such an action couldn’t come sooner for Richard Pershinske, who lives and works near Engadine, in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.), where almost all of the 500-600 gray wolves in Michigan live. Pershinske owns a feed store country elevator there and described two weeks ago as the busiest of the year, since deer hunting season started Nov. 15.

Pershinske said hunting is “a big deal” in the U.P. in part because the activity draws people into the area, and so it’s an important part of the local economy. He said delisting is essential. “That’s an absolute necessity,” he said. “That’s one of our priorities. It’s been delisted a couple times, but not long enough to be implemented by the state. If there’s any more legal maneuvering, it could take another year.”

There’s been plenty of legal maneuvering about the gray wolf issue. The FWS’ latest move was to publish a proposed rule in September to hand back management of the wolf population to state officials in these three states. There have been several lawsuits to prevent such a delisting, however.

The last one was in 2009, brought by The Humane Society of the United States and several other groups, charging that the FWS made some procedural mistakes when it moved to delist the animal that year.

A court agreed and this set back delisting for at least another year.
Rebecca Park, a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) specialist at the Michigan Farm Bureau, said she is hopeful the wolf can be delisted this time around. “If the federal government could delist the wolf, ranchers in Michigan could manage problem wolves better,” she said.

Michigan already has a state law that allows producers to shoot a wolf if it’s preying on their livestock. This would take effect immediately if the wolves were delisted. Pershinske said he knows of one producer locally who lost at least 15 cattle to wolves recently.
“Livestock predation is not only a concern, it’s an actual existing circumstance,” he said.

“It’s an ongoing problem.”

The problem is worse now than in previous years. The DNR said this year more livestock have been killed by wolves than in the previous three years combined. This includes two dogs, 57 cattle, seven sheep and a guinea hen. Only 16 livestock animals fell victim to a gray wolf in 2009.

A recent report by the FWS highlights how unpopular the gray wolf is with many people in the U.P. As the number of wolves has increased, so has the number of wolves killed illegally. Currently, the FWS is investigating a number of illegal killings.

“The existence of law – state, federal, tribal – is reason enough for most to avoid killing wolves,” the May 2010 report states. “But many of those who have a low or zero tolerance for wolves are concerned about livestock, the health of the state’s deer population or the safety of their hunting dogs.”

The report goes on to state that illegal wolf kills are “applauded” in some communities and hunters are sometimes offered money under the table for killing a wolf during a coyote hunting tournament. Sometimes fundraisers are held to raise money for people who’ve been fined for killing a wolf.

Special Agent Christopher Aldrich, who conducts criminal investigations for the FWS in Marquette, Mich., said it’s extremely difficult to figure out who killed a wolf illegally and that for every wolf killed that they know about, there are probably others they never discover, since not all are radio-collared.

“Wolves are an easy scapegoat,” Aldrich said. “There’s a lot more coyotes. They kill a lot more deer than wolves.”

Although the official public comment period for the proposed delisting rule has ended, anyone wanting to submit a comment can still do so by writing to: Laura Ragan, Endangered Species Listing Coordinator, Midwest Regional Office, U.S. FWS, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, Minn. 55111. Refer to FWS-R3-ES-2010-0062.