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Thank you for running David McGrath’s highly sensible op-ed on Wisconsin wolf hunting. Most people don’t realize Farley Mowatt’s memoir “Never Cry Wolf” is partly a work of fiction, but it is still an accurate representation of wolf management in the United States and Canada, the latter of which continues to poison wolves.
Not content to be outdone by Canada, our wolf slaughter in Wisconsin “harvested” the term wildlife management agencies use to refer to the killing of sentient beings for “sport” 216 wolves at last count. That is 20% of the population and 97 over the official quota, a number Keith Warnke of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources calls “a little bit over.” In Wisconsin, 97 represents 24 to 48 packs, or families, of wolves.
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In Shirley Jackson’s classic short story “The Lottery,” the villagers of a small town randomly choose one of their own to stone to death for no ostensible purpose other than the cathartic thrill of the kill.
A similarly macabre lottery recently was conducted by our neighbors in Wisconsin. Following the Trump administration’s controversial removal of the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list, just days before Donald Trump left office, 2,380 Wisconsin hunters chosen by lottery from 27,151 applicants “won” the privilege of buying licenses to kill 119 wolves over a seven-day period.
Opinion
But the hunt was cut short this week, on Wednesday, when the quota was exceeded and 182 wolves wiped out in just three days. This was likely because the wolves were more vulnerable due to heavy snow cover, said George Meyer of the Wilderness Wildlife Federation.