Environment & Energy

Beringia

(4,316 posts) Sat Nov 23, 2019, 07:36 PM Nov 2019

Michigan DNR fabricates stories about wolf threat to humans

https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-dnr-said-it-killed-wolves-protect-humans-then-we-got-its-emails?fbclid=IwAR1aG4y_UOTvA1OEr7NXF7J9Am-9xAAFD5sFuxqF09ocXKi9vB7Xl1txeWQ

Michigan DNR said it killed wolves to protect humans. Then we got its emails.

No wolf sped past Brad Johnson to attack a calf on the Dykstra farm. No wolves were seen prowling near preschoolers at recess in Ironwood. And no pack congregated on the back deck of a local home.

Officials at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and some lawmakers opposed to wolf protection policies were found to have embroidered, misstated or outright fictionalized the threat that gray wolves posed to humans.

But getting to the truth took years.

As a former MLive investigations editor and now freelance reporter, I’ve followed the controversy over the wolf kills for years and broke stories raising questions about DNR’s public statements about the shootings.

Now, internal emails I obtained for Bridge Magazine show that top DNR leaders had blocked the release of documents that contradicted their now-discredited justification for killing the Ontonagon wolves in 2016. These documents indicate that, rather than posing a peril to humans, the wolves were shot because they were decimating herds of high-priced beef cattle at the Dykstra farm, costing the state tens of thousands of dollars in reimbursements.

The distinction is critical. The U.S. Endangered Species Act allows the killing of federally protected animals if they pose a danger to people. But it forbids their killing for attacking livestock. Violators can face up to a year in jail.

There are about 600 to 700 wolves in Michigan.