UPDATE: RESPONSE FROM ELY MAYOR

My thoughts written in red.
I received a response to one of my emails, just waiting for a response to the second.


Subject: Re: wolves
Date: 11/10/13 10:14:11 PM
From: "Ross Petersen"
To: ........




Michelle, I see by the length and thoughtfulness of your email that you are very passionate on this subject, sarcasm not wasted here but I have to disagree with you.  The wolf hunt will be a positive factor in keeping wolves wild and allowing them to expand their range says the guy without a PhD in wolf biology  Just as the federal trapping program was an important part of the wolves expanding while under federal protection back then, predator control was killing an average of 200 a year and now predator control in conjunction with the hunting (2012) killed 700, big difference... but clearly the mayor has issues with basic math.  As far as I've seen USFS and DNR experts all agree on this but he doesn't care what the DNR experts have to say when it comes to taking bear research permits away or allowing collared bears to be shot so why is the opinion of the man the mayor demanded be fired so important when it comes to wolves? There is no doubt in my mind that the wolf population in MN will be as large or larger in ten years he has interesting things in his mind considering his opinion is based on nothing other than he has a hate for wolves.  If he can produce just one unbiased wolf biologist to agree with him I'll eat my words, even if there is a hunting season every year and the wolves will avoid people more which might be a bad thing for folks like you who want to see them, but will be a good thing for the wolves. The wolves already avoid people like the plague.  If they are so plentiful in and around Ely why have many locals claimed to not have seen them? Why do wolf biologist and the IWC continue to tell people how elusive they are? Just because one shows up in your yard one year that hardly designates them as overpopulated.  Clearly, one wolf is a wolf too many for the mayor.  Fact is, with more and more habitat loss humans will be coming in closer contact with wildlife because the animals have nowhere else to go. 


And my main gripe with Commissioner Landwehr was that he refused to get input from Ely area elected officials before he pulled Lynn Rogers permits yes, and that input was to not hurt the economy by angering fans of the collared bears by refusing to renew Rogers research permit and allowing him to keep the den cams.  The DNR stated clearly what their concerns were, THE SAFETY OF THE PUBLIC and yet the mayor doesn't care about the safety of the public when it comes to interaction with bears but he cares when it comes to interaction with wolves.  Excuse me, but which animal are you more likely to come across? And he didn't just have a "gripe" with Commissioner Landwehr, he asked for him to be fired. Fired because Landwehr put human safety above the mayors desire for money. (BTW/Landwehr is full of shit too). That is what the mayor said, that the negative press was hurting the local economy.  We got plenty of input on the wolf hunt and overwhelmingly supported it Who is we? That turd in his pocket again? because we live in wolf country and see the value of it.  Between the promoting of toxic mining and killing of wolves, I fail to see where some in the community truly value wolf country.  Not because we hate wolves or were read Goldilocks once too often Goldilocks? Really? Yes, because if you read Goldilocks it wouldn't be wolves you were afraid of.  It'd be like me trying to tell you about the light rail or something metro folks deal with every day He has every right to an opinion about the light rail because I imagine he's a tax payer and if you are a tax payer in Minnesota then your state and federal taxes go towards every little city in this state so we have say in EVERYTHING that goes on in Minnesota and across the country.  Unless Ely exists on an island of its own and doesn't utilize a single cent of my tax dollars than the mayor needs to zip it about "only we get to say what happens in wolf country," Ely residents don't own the trees and the wildlife, that belongs to all of us.


Have a good night,
Ross