By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — A federal court ruling last week reversed legislation that would have allowed Michigan farmers to capture or kill wolves caught preying on livestock.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with environmental groups in his ruling, which returned gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region to the endangered species list. Environmental groups had accused the government of misreading the law last year when the Bush administration lifted federal protections for more than 4,000 wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The ruling came less than a week after the Michigan Senate voted unanimously on legislation that would allow people to kill wolves attacking livestock or pets. It also bans hunting or trapping of wolves.

“We certainly have had some challenges in the Upper Peninsula with the gray wolf and livestock producers, and especially some problems with sheep producers and with calves,” said Ernie Birchmeier, livestock and dairy specialist with Michigan Farm Bureau.

Birchmeier said the state’s largest farm organization has worked with officials to take the gray wolf off the endangered species list. “We thought we were all done with that path until the latest ruling,” Birchmeier said.

The gray wolf has been protected under Michigan law since 1965 and federal law since 1973. It was removed from the federal list of endangered species in 2007.

Birchmeier said he recently was in attendance at a meeting regarding management of the state’s white-tailed deer population, which included discussion about wolf management. He said wolves were reintroduced in the Great Lakes region as natural predators of deer. However, the wolf population has grown beyond the expectations of wildlife management officials.

“There has been considerable growth of the wolf population in the Upper Peninsula and in Wisconsin,” Birchmeier said. “They were reintroduced to help to keep the deer herd in check.”

“The state’s DNR admits that the population there is considerably larger than what they had anticipated and planned for,” he added.
Although there is more work to be done in developing a wolf management plan that works for farmers, Birchmeier said Michigan Farm Bureau has had success in assisting farmers who seek compensation for wolf-related losses in their livestock herds and will continue to do so.

“In the loss of livestock, we have worked to seed indemnification for those people,” Birchmeier said. “Producers experiencing losses have been compensated fully for livestock lost. (The DNR) reintroduced the wolves in the U.P., and with that obviously came some provisions to deal with them.

“Certainly, we want to make sure the livestock producers are protected from the wolves,” Birchmeier said.