May 27–LANSING — There already are two wolf-hunt petition questions on the November ballot, and now there might be a third.
A group hoping to keep the wolf hunt going turned in 374,000 signatures today to get their question on the ballot.
It’s meant to pre-empt a second anti-wolf hunt petition that has already been approved for the November ballot. It’s also a citizen-initiated piece of legislation, so the Legislature could take it up within 40 days and it will automatically become law, making another anti-wolf hunt question moot.
“This initiative will not guarantee a wolf hunt; it will only guarantee that the decision about whether or not to have another wolf hunt, and other hunting and fishing decisions, are based on scientific data and the recommendations of professional biologists,” said Merle Shepard, chairman of Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management, which spearheaded the petition drive.
The initiative would give those decisions to the Natural Resources Commission, which has already approved and set a wolf hunt for three areas in the Upper Peninsula. The first wolf hunt was held in November and December and had a goal of killing 43 of the Upper Peninsula’s population of more than 650 wolves. The hunt resulted in 23 wolves being killed.
“The out-of-state special interests who oppose our efforts fail to understand what most residents of the Upper Peninsula do Â… that in some parts of the UP, wolves are killing pets and livestock and entering our communities, without fear,” added Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, who sponsored the legislation allowing for the hunt in the first place.
Animal rights advocates have launched two petition drives to repeal laws passed by the Legislature that would give control over setting wolf hunts to the Natural Resources Commission. They believe that it’s too early to begin any wolf hunt because they just got taken off the endangered species list in 2012.
They gathered enough signatures in 2012 to repeal the first law passed by the Legislature allowing the wolf hunt. Another law was passed last year that was enough to bypass the first petition drive mounted by the Keep Michigan Wolves protected group last year.
That move infuriated the organizers of the petition drive because the 255,000 signatures they collected became merely a symbolic gesture to protect the wolves. So they mounted a second petition drive and both initiatives have been approved for the November ballot.
Jill Fritz, executive director of an anti-wolf hunt group, said she expects the pro-wolf hunt group has no intention of taking the issue to the ballot, but wants the Legislature to deal with it once again.
“We certainly hope the legislators, who were fooled by this back last May won’t be fooled again,” she said. “We ask them to reject this and let Michigan residents have their say.”
If the Legislature doesn’t act on the third petition, it also will go to the ballot.