Public Being Misled on Severity of Wolf Damage Shirley Clements / The Cap Times / November 17, 2013 Before wolf delisting, there was an article about wolves and a farmer, now a Wolf Advisory Committee member. The caption on its accompanying photo read: Eric Koens with the remains of one of his calves, slaughtered by wolves. At the time (2003), Koens said he had to fight for what they promised to pay us for animals killed by wolves. I pay taxes on this farm for the sole purpose of cattle. ... Yet wolves have full range here of our private property. ... Its going to put us out of business. ... No one has considered what the wolf program is doing to this vital industry. A man is going to get to the point where he won’t be able to tolerate, dealing with the destruction of his life’s work,” said Koens. After delisting — even with the policy of freely killing problem wolves and compensation money — Koens still complained: Wolves kill our animals. Wolves harass our animals. Koens farm must be hopelessly overrun with wolves. Wondering how bad it was, I checked Department of Natural Resources damage reports, and found Koens has never had verified depredation by wolves on his farm or any wolf issues. But he has visited farmers with cattle depredation. (In 2006, Koens saw two wolves walking through his pastures; verified wolf tracks were found.) Furthermore, our beef industry is described as thriving. Wisconsin ranks third in the United States for increasing cattle numbers, and since 1986, beef cow inventory has grown 44 percent. The public is being highly misled about wolf damage.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 19:58:16 +0000
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