MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican lawmakers want the state Department of Natural Resources to implement a wolf hunt immediately and not wait until fall.
The department’s policy board announced Tuesday that it will hold a special meeting Friday morning to consider the request from Republican members of the Legislature’s sporting heritage committees.
The board received a letter from the Republicans on Jan. 15 demanding the department implement a wolf hunt immediately and extend the season beyond the end of February if quotes aren’t met. The lawmakers said wolves need to be hunted now before President-elect Joe Biden’s administration puts them back on the federal endangered species list.
The Trump administration officially delisted wolves this past November, allowing states to manage them. Wisconsin law calls for annual wolf hunting and trapping seasons to run between the beginning of November and the end of February and requires the DNR to resume the seasons if wolves lost their federal protections. The DNR had planned to resume the hunt this coming November.
Republicans have long complained that wolves are destroying their rural constituents’ livestock. The department estimates Wisconsin has at least 1,034 wolves, most in the northern third and central forest regions of the state.
