States Seek Permission to Kill Problem Wolves

  • In the Midwest, grey wolf populations are on the rise, leading some to believe that wildlife management practices are needed. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)

Some Midwest states are re-gaining permission to euthanize
gray wolves that are killing domesticated animals. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

Some Midwest states are re-gaining permission to euthanize grey
wolves that are killing domesticated animals. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:


A federal court ruling in January halted agencies in Wisconsin and Michigan
from trapping and killing problem wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service has just given Wisconsin a new permit to euthanize up to 34
wolves this year, and a permit application from Michigan is being
reviewed.


Fish and Wildlife official Ron Refsnider says two years of data show
the killing of problem wolves is not harming the grey wolf
population in the upper Midwest states.


“So we don’t have to guess, we don’t have to speculate. We can see
flat out that what they’re asking for shouldn’t be a problem.”


A small number of grey wolves have traveled into other Midwest
states. But officials there still can only trap and relocate problem wolves.


For the GLRC, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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River Otters on the Rebound

  • Now that the river otter's population is recovering, some worry that they are plundering fish farms. The proposed solution to this problem is stirring up some debate. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

There have been many wildlife success stories in the region. For instance, the numbers of white-tailed deer and Canada Geese have rebounded so strongly that many consider them pests. Now, another animal is being added to that list. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports on the rebound of the river otter:

Transcript

There have been many wildlife success stories in the region.
For instance, the numbers of white-tailed deer and Canada Geese
have rebounded so strongly that many consider them pests. Now,
another animal is being added to that list. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports on the rebound of the river otter:


In the late 1980’s river otters were so rare in Ohio that wildlife officials imported 123 of the animals and released them along rivers and streams. Now, it’s estimated that Ohio has more than 4,000 river otters. Dave Scott helps track the Ohio numbers for the Natural Resources Department.


“River otters are a really neat success story. And like some other wildlife things, they’ve done better than anticipated.”


In fact, so much better that the otters in Ohio are now being blamed for eating up fish in stocked ponds and in farm lakes where fish are raised for sale. That’s why wildlife officials are now proposing a trapping season here next winter. Trappers value river otters for their fur and back the idea of a trapping season but animal protection activists oppose it. They say the foothold traps that are used are inhumane.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

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Audubon Society Cheers Congress for Bird Law

  • The European Starling, an invasive species, has been pushing woodpeckers out of their nests and preventing them from breeding. The Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act will help reduce populations of non-native bird species. (Photo by Louis Rock)

The National Audubon Society is praising Congress for strengthening protections for American migratory birds. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

The National Audubon Society is praising Congress for strengthening protections for American migratory birds. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:


The U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed in 1917 to protect native birds, such as the woodpecker, the Baltimore Oriole, and the American Black Duck. But a court ruling earlier this year changed the law, by extending protections to all birds, including non-native species. National Audubon Society spokesman John Bianchi says invasive species like the European Starling are pushing out native birds.


“That is hard for people to understand, but the equation there is that pushing out means killing. A European Starling pushing a woodpecker out of its nest means that that woodpecker will not breed that year.”


As part of a recent spending bill, Congress amended the law to once again only protect native migratory birds. That provides millions of dollars a year for protection efforts, which can include trapping and removing non-native birds, or killing them.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.

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Timber Wolves Moving Into New Area

  • Timber wolves have been making a comeback in the Midwest for some time. Recently, they've been reappearing in places they haven't been seen in decades.

Timber wolves are moving into an area where they
haven’t been seen for about 80 years. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Timber wolves are moving into an area where they haven’t been seen for about 80 years. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Timber wolves have been repopulating areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the upper peninsula of Michigan for some time now. But recently, a wolf was shot and killed in the lower peninsula of Michigan. Since then, tracks of two more wolves have been identified not too far away from the shooting. The two peninsulas of Michigan are separated by water five miles across the connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. Sometimes, it freezes over. Michigan Department of Natural Resources biologists figure a small pack of wolves made the trek across the ice. Brian Roell is with the DNR.


“Well, it’s interesting that, you know, wolves are, you know, repopulating areas that, you know, they’ve been removed from. It’s really nice to see that these wolves are making their own comeback.”


Hunters are warned to be careful when trapping or hunting. The wolves are still federally protected. The wolf shooting this fall was ruled accidental because the trapper shot the animal thinking it was a coyote, since wolves were killed off in the area decades ago.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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Trapping Laws Come Under Fire

Trapping is still a popular past time in the northern half of the
country. Mostly trappers are looking for beavers, raccoons and
muskrats.
But every year, a small number of household pets are caught as well.
As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, one pet
owner
is fighting to change that:

Transcript

Trapping is still a popular pastime in the northern half of the country. Mostly, trappers are

looking for beavers, raccoons, and muskrats. But every year, a small number fo household pets are

caught as well. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, one pet owner is

fighting to change that.


Valentine was Meg Massaro’s best friend. She was a black and brown boxer. And, at one time, a

mangy stray. Massaro found her on the side of the road and nursed her back to health. The two

became inseperable. Then, on a cold January morning, they went for a run on a local bike path.


“So I let her off the leash. She bounded happily in front of me for about thirty seconds. The next

thing I know I heard her screaming and I jumped in after her and she was sailing through the air

with a bucket over her head. I took the bucket off her head and there was a trap and I said to my

husband, ‘What is it?’ She kept looking at me, pleadingly her eyes were just getting bigger and

bigger. She couldn’t breathe. And animal control with the help of police were finally able to get

it off. It was about an hour and a half that she was in the trap. Of course, by that time, she was

long gone. It was gruesome, very grisly.”


The trap was about fifty feet from this bike path just outside of Albany, New York. Massaro

remembers thinking this had to be illegal. It’s an area with playgrounds and picnic benches. So,

she called New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, and found out the trap was legally

set.


“They were really like, ‘Well what do you want us to do, lady?’ And I said, ‘I want you to go out

and see if there are any more traps and if there are, I want you to remove them.’ And the guy

said, ‘We wouldn’t be able to do that.’ So I just said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and hung up the and

I thought, ‘This is war.'”


Massaro started calling newspapers. She circulated a petition with thousands of names. And she

began lobbying – full time – to get traps out of residential areas.


“I can’t imagine that anyone wants traps near their home, near where their kids play, near where

their dogs are walking; it doesn’t make any sense to allow that.”


Albany County legislator Paulette Barletti talked to Massaro over the phone after the incident.

But she wasn’t sure it was an issue she wanted to adopt. Then, she saw photographs the police took

after Valentine’s death.


“I was actually horrified. And the first thing that came to my mind was, good grief, this could be

a child.”


Barletti introduced legislation to ban trapping on state or private land. That’s because New York,

like most states, regulates trapping on the state level. Traps can be set on most state land and

on private land with permission of the landowner.


Gordon Batcheller runs New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s trapping program. He

says trappers often serve as their eyes and ears in the field.


“Trapping is actually very hard, it’s hard work and it takes a lot of skills. Studies have shown

that trappers, of all outdoor users, have the highest level of all wildlife biology. They’re

extremely knowledgeable about animals. They can tell us what’s going on out there and we really

value what they tell us because they’re knowledgeable and they see things.”


Batcheller says the majority of trappers are extremely careful about where they set their traps.

And there aren’t too many pets being caught. but Batcheller says it’s clear that in those cases,

the trapper made a mistake.


“In the incidents that we’ve evaluated, the traps simply should not have been set where they were

set. Even though it was legal, poor judgement was used in those instances and experienced trappers

that look at these cases, they shake their heads and say why did they do that.”


Now, thanks in part to Meg Massaro’s campaign, Batcheller is trying to find a compromise. He’s

come up with new recommendations. They’d require trappers to move traps off the ground and onto

stands and trees where dogs can’t reach them. And, he’s proposing tougher restrictions near roads

and bike paths. Batcheller hopes the recommendations will be in place by next fall. But Meg

Massaro says it’s not enough. She’s lobbying for local control so counties can make their own

decisions about trapping. And she wants traps banned from recreational areas. But mostly, she

wants to make sure that this never happens to someone’s dog again.


“When I drover her home that first time, tears were running down my cheks that day because I

couldn’t believe how abused this dog had been. And i promised, I said it out loud to her, no one

will ever hurt you again. And I lied. I didn’t mean to, but i lied and i can’t live with that. I

have to do something to compensate for that. She deserved better, and other people and their pets

deserve better.”


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly in Albany, New York.

Reintroducing the Otter

A coalition of industries, institutions and individuals is making sure
that a piece of their state’s natural heritage is returned. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Flynn reports on the
three-hundred-thousand dollar New York River Otter Project:

A Midwestern Wolf Hunt?

Wolves have made a spectacular recovery the past twenty years through
protection by the federal endangered species act. But now the
State of Minnesota is debating a public hunting and trapping season. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Nick Van Der Puy reports.

Urban Trapping

As human populations grow and sprawl out from cities, the number of
human/animal conflicts increases. But it’s creating a healthy demand
for a growing industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson
reports:

Wolf Management Plan Stumbles

Last June, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit announced he wanted to remove thetimber wolf from the Endangered Species list because of dramatic populationrebounds in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. But before that can happen,each state must come up with a plan to manage the populations. Wisconsinand Michigan already have draft plans ready for public comment. ButMinnesota is lagging behind. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s StephanieHemphill reports: