LANSING, MI – It could take roughly two months for state election officials to formally determine whether a coalition has submitted enough voter signatures to put any potential plans for a wolf hunting season in Michigan on hold.
A coalition called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected says Wednesday it has more than enough signatures to suspend any plans for a hunt. The coalition including The Humane Society of the United States said it was submitting 253,705 signatures to state election officials. If at least 161,305 of those signatures are deemed valid, a new state law that could lead to a wolf hunt would be at least temporarily suspended.
Michigan voters would then decide the law’s fate during the November 2014 election.
State wildlife officials have not yet announced whether they will push for a hunt. If a hunt were recommended, it likely would be focused exclusively on parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
But the coalition opposed to a hunt wants to make that process a moot point by overturning a state law approved late last year that classifies the wolf as a game species.
“Across the entire state, hundreds of thousands of Michiganders have spoken with their pens to tell legislators that they were wrong in approving a wolf hunting bill last December,” said Jill Fritz, director of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected and the state’s director for The Humane Society of the United States.
The Michigan United Conservation Clubs called The Humane Society of the United States an “anti-hunting organization” trying to force its beliefs on states residents.
"The fact that HSUS was able to collect the required number of signatures tells us nothing about the issue other than if you are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and target areas of the state without a wolf population and refuse to educate the public about the issue, you can collect a lot of signatures," Erin McDonough, executive director of MUCC, said in a statement. "MUCC believes that HSUS has vastly underestimated the intelligence level of Michigan's residents and has grossly overestimated this state's tolerance for out-of-state extremists attempting to buy election results."
State election officials and the Board of State Canvassers have 60 days to determine whether the petitions contain enough valid signatures. There is an option for an additional 15 days of consideration if needed.
The state law approved late last year did not in itself create a wolf hunt. But it does allow the state’s Natural Resources Commission to authorize one if it’s deemed warranted.
Michigan wildlife officials are expected to make a formal recommendation next month on whether the state should allow a wolf hunting season. A vote on the recommendation is not expected at the April meeting of the Natural Resources Commission, but a vote could come at a later date.
The Department of Natural Resources estimated roughly 700 wolves lived in the Upper Peninsula in 2011. That’s up from just more than 500 in 2008 and just more than 200 in 2000. A new population estimate could be completed soon.
Farmers say wolves are attacking their livestock, and wolves have wandered into some Upper Peninsula towns. Supporters of considering a hunt say currently allowable methods aimed at preventing attacks on livestock -- such as permitting farmers to shoot wolves they catch in the act -- haven’t worked.
The Humane Society of the United States says there’s no reason to hunt wolves and that they would be hunted only as trophies. The organization has said it wants the animals returned to the endangered species list.