By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

ENGADINE, Mich. — Sheep and cattle rancher Bob Love doesn’t have a problem with wolves anymore – but that’s not because state officials did anything to help.

Instead, Love, who raises several hundred sheep and cattle in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.), bought six Great Pyrenees several years ago to use as guard dogs to protect his livestock from the growing population of Gray Wolves, as well as coyotes. The latest figures have the Gray Wolf population in Michigan at 580, with all or the vast majority in the U.P.

“Before the guard dogs, it was nothing to lose 40 to 50 sheep in a year,” Love said. “I can’t say it was all wolves; some of them might have been coyotes, but you can pretty much tell the difference with the kill” whether it was a wolf or a coyote. He explained a wolf will consume its kill more completely than a coyote and bite through bone.

His problems with livestock predation ended after he bought the dogs, though he lost a calf last spring to a predator. He paid $400-$500 for each dog.

“The expensive part of it is feeding them,” he stated. “You have to spend a lot on dog food.”

The Michigan DNR, now called the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE), has a policy to compensate ranchers who have had livestock killed by a wolf or a coyote.

“Depredation by wolves on livestock in Michigan is a fairly rare event,” said Pat Lederle, research manager for the DNRE’s wildlife program. Lederle said that’s compared to the problem in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“People tend to focus on wolves, but there’s also bears, coyotes and bobcats. It’s not as simple as most people make it out to be,” he added.

Lederle said just because a wolf or coyote has been eating a farm animal doesn’t mean that it killed the livestock. He said an animal attacked by a wolf while it’s alive will bleed more when it has its skin pulled back than if it was already dead when the wolf found it. The department compensates ranchers for downed livestock only when they are killed by a wolf or coyote.

“The indemnification issue has changed a lot over the past several years,” he said. “A lot of farmers are ambivalent about calling the department. You got to call so we can investigate.”

Love described his past experiences with the DNR as pretty negative. He said it’s too hard to convince officials that a wolf killed his animal.

“I don’t even bother with it anymore,” he said. “It’s too much trouble just having them around.”

The Gray Wolf is on the federal Threatened and Endangered Species list, but is in the process of being de-listed by the state and federal governments. It probably would have been de-listed by now, but a couple of lawsuits delayed the process.

The American Farm Bureau proposed a policy regarding predators at its recent annual meeting in Seattle, which reads, in part: “Property owners should have the right to protect crops and livestock from protected wildlife and predators;” also, “a system to compensate farmers for damage from state or federally protected wildlife is needed.”

Rebecca Park, a lobbyist at the Michigan Farm Bureau on wildlife issues, said ranchers should be able to shoot a predator such as a Gray Wolf when it is actively threatening a farmer’s livestock.
“Our members take great pride in their property, livestock and livelihood,” she said. “Ranchers want the ability to take care of a situation before it actually occurs.”

Richard Pershinske raises about 30 beef cattle near Engadine and has been involved in the Gray Wolf issue in the U.P. for the past seven years, after a wolf pack killed 10-15 beef and dairy animals in Garfield Township. Since then, he has become the Farm Bureau’s point man on the subject in the U.P.

He said hardly a day goes by when he doesn’t field a call on the subject. “The wolf population has reached a point where it’s beyond socially acceptable,” he said. “It’s idiotic, almost sinful, to be in this situation.”

But Pershinske said he doesn’t think any farmer would allow a wolf or any other predator to attack his animals if he was able to stop it, regardless of the law.