Wolf Hunts No Longer Authorized For WI Wildlife Agency After Federal Court Decision

WISCONSIN — Wisconsin's wildlife agency will no longer be able to hold wolf hunts, the Department of Natural Resources announced Friday.

"Wisconsin is not authorized to implement a wolf harvest season," the agency said in a statement.

Wildlife agents won't be allowed to shoot and kill wolves, permits allowing landowners to kill wolves are no longer valid, and people won't be able to train dogs to hunt wolves after the ruling, the agency added.

Wolves were taken off the Endangered Species List in 2020 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Animal advocacy group Animal Wellness Action called the service's decision "premature."

The latest ruling by a federal judge restored "critical" protections for the wolves, Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy President Wayne Parcelle said in a statement.

“Wolves need federal protection, period,” Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles said in a statement. The group was a plaintiff in the ruling to restore federal protection for wolves.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service should be ashamed of defending the gray wolf delisting, and it should take immediate action to restore Endangered Species Act protections to all gray wolves, including those in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana,” Boyles added.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation's president said the state was able to administer its wolf hunting season "appropriately and effectively," and called for lawmakers to take action.

"The continuous activism by the judicial branch must cease," federation president Kevin Krentz said. "It is time the legislative branch asserts its authority over wildlife management and pass legislation allowing the Great Lakes Region to manage its wolf population."

A federal court put gray wolves back on the Endangered Species List Thursday in the lower 48 states, with the exception of the northern Rocky Mountains region.

See Also: Wolves Regain Federal Protection In Wisconsin, 48 States

Wisconsin's wolf hunt was put on hiatus in November 2021 after a judge set its kill quota to zero after the wildlife department left its wolf population management plan unfinished. The department said it plans to finish the plan.

In a previous wolf hunt in February 2021, hunters shot and killed 216 wolves in three days. Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison said that this caused a 27 percent decline in the state's gray wolf population.