INFORMATIONAL WOLF HEARING 2014

Last night there was an informational hearing on wolf management by the state of Minnesota at the state office building.  I intended to write about it when I returned home but my brain was fried after listening to three straight hours of opinions, experiences, statistics and just plain bullshit (I'll explain that bullshit remark later).

Information Wolf Hearing 2014.
Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee (upper left) getting ready to settle into their seats.
Cindy & Barb (upper right), Sandy & Julie (lower left), Maya and Michelle (lower right)

I brought my daughter Maya with me to the hearing, first, because she's a wolf advocate and second, because I wanted her to see how our local government works, or, better yet, doesn't work.  She learned two valuable lessons; that commitment to a cause is equally as important as A passion for it and honesty isn't always apart of policy.

I think Maya and I both experienced a wide range of emotions at the hearing. I'm a bit more animated than my daughter when it comes to my thoughts so I'm pretty sure I embarrassed her as I mumbled swear words, shook my head, and rolled by eyes but she mimics mom well as she was one of a group that got lectured about "proper behavior" when she applauded Rep. Isaacson after he took on the DNR and I thought at one point she was going to jump out of her seat and tear the hair out of this anti wolf guy reading some bias article he pulled from the internet about how wolves are responsible for the decline in moose.  Seriously, the guy couldn't even formulate his own thoughts on the issue, he had to print out an article and read it verbatim, all with his exotic Minnesotan accent (think the movie "Fargo") that no one really has anymore (btw/I hate the movie Fargo).

So, as I sit here next to my 13 year old that has just told me that my last line above about Minnesotan accents is rude, I'll share my take on last nights hearing...

The first article I read this morning on the hearing was titled "Wolf Management Remains Divisive..."

Ok... yes, it is divisive.  We have those that oppose and those that support the wolf hunt but divisive is one of those words that almost implies there is an equal division in our state over the issue and that is completely false.  Let's, just for the sake of argument, scrap the fact that more than one survey (one of those being done by the DNR) has shown the majority of Minnesotans are against killing wolves; what did I still see at last nights hearing? The majority of people in attendance were in support of ending the hunt.  Now, in my opinion, if someone takes the time to go to an "informational" hearing to share their expertise, opinion or to just be in attendance than obviously the issue at hand is important to them.  Saving the wolf, NOT killing it, is important to Minnesotans because the bulk of the people in attendance were pro wolf.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the names of most of the write-in speakers but here is a list of the speakers that spoke out against the hunt:

Howard Goldman, Minnesota Humane Society State Director
Dr. Adrian Treves, Assoc. Professor, Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin
Maureen Hackett, Founder of Howling for Wolves
Kathleen Zweber, Farmer in Northern Minnesota
Jim Malkowski, Naturalist
Neil Ross
Terry Tibbits, White Earth Tribal Nation
Lois Norrgard, Sierra Club
Barry Babcock, Hunter & Northern Minnesota Resident
Scott Slocum
Ann Bever
Robert Shimek, White Earth Tribal Nation
Sandra Skinaway, Sandy Lake Ojibwe
Nancy Christopher, Hunter
Nicole Hendrickson, Tribal Member of Sokaogon Ojibwe

Here is the list that spoke out in support of the hunt:

Ed Boggess, Director, DNR Fish and Wildlife Division
Dan Stark, DNR Large Carnivore Specialist
Tim Spreck, Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance
John Fisher, Cook MN, hunter
Jim Aker, Orr MN, hunter
Charlie Cowden, Echo Trail
Jeff Elliot, Virginia MN
Dennis Udovich, Minnesota Bear Guides Association


To view the entire informational hearing on the wolf for yourself please see the following.  The wolf hearing begins at 1:06:54

CLICK HERE FOR YOUTUBE VIDEO OF WOLF HEARING

Between 1:06:54 and 1:42:15 you will get a lot of DNR statistics and information on their management plan which gets challenged along the way by a handful of representatives.

At 1:42:15 Rep. Jason Isaacson (who sponsored a bill opposing the wolf hunt) begins to question the DNR on the scientific methods used to study the wolves and determine the need for a hunt.  He also points out a leaked email where the DNR says their primary clients are hunters & trappers and not the Minnesota citizens they work for.

At 2:18:00 - 2:19:30 Rep. Tony Cornish (R) refers to some letters he received from his constituents that were against the wolf hunt as "ignorant" because the letters referenced what he considers a non fact, that wolves only hunt the sick and the wounded.

This is a quote taken from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Do wolves really take the old, young, sick and starving, or injured animals?It is well documented that wolves tend to do this.  Hunting and bringing down big game is dangerous work and wolves are sometimes killed by elk, moose, and even deer.  In the wild, they cannot afford to be injured; therefore, they go after the safest animals to kill and often leave strong animals alone.  A recent study of wolf predation on elk in Yellowstone National Park, for example, found that wolves tend to kill calves and older animals - adult elk killed by wolves were about 7 years older than elk killed by hunters.  If weather or other conditions make prey unusually vulnerable, wolves can and do kill prime-aged animals but wolf predation tends to be selective.

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/aboutwolves/wolfbiology.htm

At 2:18:35 - 2:18:40 Tony Cornish says that wolves are no different than a pack of dogs, once they get in there they can't stop killing, which implies wolves just kill for fun and not always for consumption.

Do wolves kill more than they eat?Sometimes, but rarely.  The few times that wolves have been documented killing more than they could eat were when conditions such as deep snow or other unusual circumstances made it easy to kill their prey.  Even then, they returned to those kills and continued to use them.

 http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/aboutwolves/wolfbiology.htm

At 2:19:15 - 2:20:00 Tony Cornish says that non-lethal methods of controlling wolves to protect livestock doesn't work and therefore trapping and killing wolves is the only solution.  What he really means is that the legislature rather fund a wolf hunt and bogus DNR studies than non-lethal methods of protecting livestock.

I've spoken with two different families in Northern Minnesota that keep livestock.  Both are able to avoid issues with wolves by keeping just a few llamas on their property.

A little statistic for you: In 1994 Iowa State University conducted research on the effectiveness of "guard llamas" against predators.  While the study primarily focused on coyotes, the results are the same with wolves and other canine predators.  Overall sheep loss from predators dropped from 11% (before llamas) to less than 1% (while llamas were in use).

Defenders of Wildlife has compiled a long list of non-lethal methods to protect livestock from predators.  Many of those non-lethal methods are currently being used successfully across the nation in places like Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Montana. (File can be found HERE)

At 2:21:00 - 2:21:20 Tony Cornish concludes that portion of his rant with his wanting to get a permit to kill a wolf for himself.

At the very end of the entire video Tony Cornish comes back to "clarify" some statistics and what he wants people to know is that advocacy groups are misinformed about the predation numbers because he  noted (not documented), in his work as a conservation officer, many kills of calves by wolves that he couldn't prove or that farmers couldn't prove because the calves were dragged off into the wild and no wolf scat or tracks were left behind as evidence.  So instead of there being the possibility that a coyote or some other animal took those calves or that just maybe the farmer was full of shit because maybe he was just trying to get a few bucks from the livestock predation reimbursement program, Tony Cornish states that the wolf predation number is actually much higher than what is being reported as "official."

So back to the intro of this blog post where I mentioned having to listen to pure bullshit.  Tony Cornish is full of shit and so were the handful of people that got up to speak in support of the wolf slaughter.  Pro wolf hunters are all about me, me, and me again.  Their wants, their desires.  They had no interest in the Ojibwe members that spoke about their relationship to the wolf, in the farmer that spoke about good livestock management, in the hunters that talked about ethical hunting or the insane number of deer we have running around our state, they didn't care about the professional opinion from scientists or  the testimony from the founder of Howling for Wolves about how barbaric snare traps are.  Those that support wolf killing DO NOT care about facts, nor do they care about what the citizens in Minnesota really want.

This is a face that caters to special interest groups so if you love wolves and want to protect our environment, don't forget it.

Representative Tony Cornish (District 23B)

Some representatives care about what their constituents want while others just care about where the "special interest" money is coming from. It is up to us as Minnesotans to show our elected officials that the power they think they have is only an illusion, the power belongs to the people that voted for them.  If you care about protecting our environment and care about protecting our wolves then we need to stand united on these issues.  Make sure you show up to Wolf Day at the Minnesota Capitol on February 27th to meet with legislators and attend the rally in the rotunda. Wolf Day is an all day event starting at 12 pm and ending around 4 pm.  If you RSVP you'll receive a free t-shirt when you arrive at the event!! Buses will be picking up groups of people at various locations so please click on > HOWLING FOR WOLVES to read more information about the event.


UPDATE 2/10/14: Since an "anonymous" person responded to this blog post and made the statement that Minnesotans are equally divided on the wolf hunt I thought it would be helpful to let people see the facts for themselves.

The DNR received 7,351 responses to their online survey about the wolf hunt, 1,542 people supported a wolf season and 5,809 opposed it.  When questioned by the media later as to why they were going forward with the hunt even though the majority oppose it the only response the DNR gave is that #1 the survey wasn't being conducted to help them determine the need for a hunt (so none of us really know why they bothered with the survey to begin with) and #2 the survey was answered by people outside Minnesota so it didn't just reflect an "in state" opinion.

Ok... so Lake Research Partners conducted a survey and found...3 out of 4 Minnesota voters feel it is wrong to have a wolf hunting and trapping season without first doing a comprehensive wolf population study.  Read the detailed report here: MINNESOTANS VALUE THE WOLF