Two GOP State Lawmakers Plan Wolf Summit In September

Two Republican state lawmakers are planning a regional summit on wolves in September.

State Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst and State Rep. Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake, said they want to return wolf management to the states.

Tiffany is calling it the Great Lakes Wolf Summit, a meeting of interested parties from Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota to discuss what he said is an out-of-control wolf population.

“I expect that we’re going to be able to get scientists there, we’re going to get farmers there, I think get law enforcement to attend,” he said. “This is affecting society in a number of ways, and we’ve really seen it in northern Wisconsin for a number of years. The deer herd is decimated.”

Tiffany said the negative impact of wolves is spreading south.

“We had the incident in Shawano County, second incident in a little over a month, where a cow was taken down by a wolf. Enough is enough,” he said.

Tiffany said farmers’ and hunters’ animals have been hurt by a federal judge’s ruling that put the wolves back on the endangered species list.

“We’ve seen 14 wolf depredations once again in early 2016, and it’s time to return management of the wolf to the states,” said Tiffany. A federal judge a year and a half ago took that ability away. The federal judge clearly knows nothing about wildlife management.”

In 2014, a federal judge returned wolves in the Great Lakes area to the endangered species list, ending Wisconsin’s wolf hunt.