By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Michigan Attorney General (AG) have filed an appeal of a federal court’s ruling that provides wolves in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The AG filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Feb. 27. It asks the court to uphold the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) December 2011 decision that removed wolves in the Great Lakes region from the federal endangered species list. That action allowed states to manage wolf populations, which can allow farmers to kill wolves that are attacking or preying on livestock and may allow for wolf hunts.

“Returning wolf management to wildlife professionals in the state of Michigan is critical to retaining a recovered, healthy and socially-accepted wolf population in the state,” said DNR Director Keith Creagh in a statement. “Michigan residents who live with wolves deserve to have a full range of tools available to sustainably manage that population.”

According to the DNR, wolves are 15 years past the population recovery goals set by the federal government. There are an estimated 636 wolves in the state’s Upper Peninsula (UP).

DNR Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason described the wolves’ recovery in Michigan as a “great success story” and said continuing to provide ESA protections for wolves there leaves farmers and others with few options when their animals are being attacked and killed by wolves.

The state set up a program to compensate farmers who’ve had livestock taken by a wolf, and that is still in place; however, a farmer is required to prove to a DNR official’s satisfaction that it was a wolf that killed their livestock, rather than a coyote or some other animal. It isn’t always obvious what animal is responsible for the depredation; a number of different animals that live in the UP could take a sheep or calf, for example.

With the wolf’s return to federal protection in December, the DNR immediately lost the authority to use a variety of wolf management methods, including lethal control, to, in its view, minimize wolf conflicts with people and their animals.

Under the ESA, no one may kill a wolf except in the immediate defense of human life. The December 2014 decision, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other groups.

HSUS stated shortly after ESA protections for the gray wolf were lifted, trophy hunters and trappers killed more than 1,500 wolves under “hostile state management programs” that encouraged dramatic reductions in wolf populations. HSUS Senior Vice President and chief counsel Jonathan Lovvorn said in December he was pleased the court recognized the basis for the delisting decision was “flawed and would stop wolf recovery in its tracks.”

Meanwhile, Congress has gotten into the act by introducing two bills that would strip ESA protections for wolves. H.R. 843, introduced Feb. 10 by Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), would remove ESA protections for wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

A related bill, H.R. 884, would remove ESA protections for wolves in Wyoming as well. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) introduced that bill Feb. 11. H.R. 884 would also prevent any court from returning wolves to endangered species status.

Animal rights group Defenders of Wildlife – not one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit – sent out a fundraising letter last week describing the bills as “diabolical and desperate.”