Interact Follow Donate Shop Forward Subscribe
|
|
|
|
|
Greetings!
This week, we share some important updates. We appreciate your support as we educate, advocate and participate on behalf of wolves.
|
|
|
|
Wolfwatcher Gains Important Seat at
Michigan's Wolf Forum
By: Nancy Warren
Wolfwatcher's Great Lakes Regional Director
|
 | Photo by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Lakes
|
Between June and September 2006, the Michigan Wolf Roundtable met to deliberate wolf management. Membership included 20 agencies/organizations representing a diversity of Michigan interests including hunting, trapping, livestock producers, public safety, tourism, tribes and wolf education and protection groups.
The Roundtable identified and prioritized wolf related issues, reviewed social and biological science and engaged in negotiations to reach consensus in the development of the guiding principles of the Michigan Wolf Management Plan.
This plan which was signed July 10, 2008 by DNR Director, Rebecca Humphries, strikes a balance between protecting the wolf and resolving conflicts. The plan strongly emphasizes the use of non-lethal controls, the valuable role of wolf education and the need for ongoing research.
The Roundtable recognized that the plan should include a review process and encouraged the DNR to establish a wolf-management advisory council. This committee would continue to identify and discuss management goals, conflict resolutions and public education opportunities on an annual basis.
Members of "The Wolf Forum" are representatives from various agencies, tribes, and stakeholder groups that represent the broad array of values and interests concerning wolves and wolf management in Michigan. Many are the same groups represented on the Roundtable.
We are proud to announce that the National Wolfwatcher Coalition has been offered a seat on the Wolf Forum, replacing Defenders of Wildlife, and will be represented by Nancy Warren and Jackie Winkowski.
The forum met in June 2012, and we encourage you to read the most recent Michigan Wolf Forum Update. We will keep you informed as to the date of the next Forum and any important developments.
|
Wisconsin Update:
Court ruling temporarily prevents hunting wolves with dogs and training dogs to hunt wolves
|
 | Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Lakes
|
We are pleased to report that Dane County Circuit Judge Peter C. Andersen issued an order Friday, August 31st that temporarily bans wolf hunters from training or using dogs in the chase. In his ruling, Judge Andersen granted a preliminary injunction which temporarily prevents the use of dogs for hunting wolves, and also the use of dogs to train to hunt wolves. As a result of this ruling, citizens were advised that the use of dogs for tracking and trailing of wolves is not authorized when hunting wolves under a wolf harvesting license. Also, the use of dogs for training to track or train free ranging wolves is not authorized at this time.
Judge Peter C. Anderson's order comes as part of a lawsuit that the National Wolfwatcher Coalition and seven other plaintiffs brought against Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources. We contend that the Department of Natural Resources did not have adequate protections in place to prevent violent confrontations between dogs and wolves during the training and the state's new wolf hunting seasons, and thus would violate Wisconsin's animal cruelty statutes.
Judge Anderson is set to take up a DNR motion to dismiss the case Sept. 14th. Based on court proceedings thus far, however, we feel encouraged that the case will continue on its merits. The judge's ruling can be viewed in its entirety via Wisconsin Eye Public Affairs Network: Wisconsin Federated Humane Societies Inc. et. Al. vs. Cathy Stepp et. al. (we especially urge you to watch and listen to the last 15 minutes).
|
|
Are you a "wolfwatcher," too?
|
 | Photo courtesy of Courtland White
|
We like to ask supporters to share their thoughts about why wolves and their conservation are so important...
Nine year old Zoe White shared with us the testimony she presented at a Wisconsin Natural Resources Board meeting regarding the upcoming hunting season in her state:
Dear Natural Resources Board,
My name is Zoe White, age 9, and I am from Madison and Cornucopia in Bayfield Country. I am a future wildlife biologist and have already learned about Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson. In particular, Aldo Leopold learned early in his career about the importance of predators to the balance of nature. He went on to advocate for a respectful place in the human management of wildlife for larger predators that had mistakenly been considered competition for hunters in the past.
The best part of what makes me proud to be a Wisconsinite is that we have made a space in our state for Wild Animals to live with us. I am especially proud of the recovery that endangered animals have made in our state. I am thrilled whenever I see cranes, bears, otters, eagles, herons, loons hawks and foxes - which I do on a regular basis.
Just knowing that wolves are out there living with us is exciting and makes me proud that both wolves and I were born here and can live here.
I also feel badly for the people who have had their livestock attacked by wolves. I think that it is right for those people to have more power over wolves.
But, NO hunt should go on where wolves are living in the heart of wolf territory far away from people, those wolves should be left entirely alone. I think we should have a wolf sanctuary to restore the wolf population as the hunt is going on and the hunt should only go on where wolves have ventured onto people's property and killed their livestock.
The Zones should be adjusted so that hunting quotas in our wildest places that wolves call home are zero. All of the hunting should take place where people have had had problems with wolves on their property attacking their livestock.
Please continue to make me proud to be from Wisconsin by preserving the heart of wolf habitat for wolves to live free.
##########
Zoe's testimony is an inspiration to all of us and serves as a reminder of the reason we educate, advocate and participate !
[Send your thoughts about why wolves are important to you to Wolfwatcher along with a recent photo and you may be featured in our next e-newsletter! We look forward to hearing from you!]
|
|
Educate, Advocate, Participate
|
|
|
National Wolfwatcher Coalition is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit, all volunteer organization
on behalf of
wolf education, conservation and advocacy.
We seek to preserve the legacy of the wolf by educating the public, advocating for science-based decision making at every level of government and participating in activities that promote the wolf conservation. All donations, no matter the amount, will help us to educate, advocate and participate via:
- educational programs, materials and events
- participation in conferences, seminars, and consultation with other professionals in the field of wolf biology, research, conservation and environmental law.
- Wolfwatcher Legal Fund to address costs related to our potential engagement in litigation that challenges local, state and/or federal policies that affect wolf conservation.
To donate online, please click on the Donate button at the top. To donate by check or money order, please send your donation to: National Wolfwatcher Coalition, PO Box 84, East Greenwich, RI 02818
When you join our pack by shopping at our Wolfwatcher Store you are actually helping us further our mission by raising awareness about wolves and our work on behalf of wolf conservation. We hope you will check it out.
"The Legacy" is the first in a series of Wolfwatcher's t-shirts which was created especially for us by our Media Director, C.D. Cross. His official images have been designed at the request of natural history associations as well as private park concessionaires, and they can be found in national park stores across America. The "Legacy" announces our slogan,
"Educate, Advocate, Participate...Preserve Their Legacy."
 | |
(front)
|
 | |
(back)
|
We appreciate your kind support.
|
|
|
