This message is from: "janet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> A fjord owner in Michigan recently reported some injuries that did not seem possible for a coyote. Up until this moment, it was assumed there were no wolves in the lower Michigan. Evidently that has changed. Are you anywhere near the towns mentioned below?
Janet Dead wolf evidence they've migrated below bridge October 26, 2004 BY ERIC SHARP FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER A wolf was killed Sunday by a trapper near Rogers City, the first solid proof that wolves have crossed the Straits of Mackinac from the Upper Peninsula. Todd Hogrefe, a state Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist in Lansing, said several more radio-collared wolves had disappeared from the UP and also might have crossed the winter ice to the Lower Peninsula with the one that was killed. Craig Milkowski, a DNR conservation officer, said the wolf was a 70-pound female caught in a coyote trap by Rogers City resident William Karsten, who had been hunting several weeks with some friends for what they thought were unusually large coyotes. Karsten shot the animal, discovered it had a radio collar and realized from its size and the collar that it might not be a coyote. The DNR's position until now has been that there was no proof wolves had migrated to the Lower Peninsula. But Karsten contacted Milkowski, who confirmed that the dead animal was a female wolf. Karsten could not be reached for comment. Lt. Jeff Gaither, who heads the DNR's law enforcement office in Gaylord, said the incident was under investigation, "and there's not much we can tell you at this time." DNR spokesman Brad Wurfel said the dead wolf was trapped and fitted with a radio collar last November near Engadine, about 50 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie. Its radio signal was last detected Feb. 26 by biologists in an aircraft. About 300 wolves live in the Upper Peninsula. They apparently moved into Michigan from Wisconsin to the west. The Wisconsin wolves are thought to be descendants of the roughly 2,500 wolves that now live in northern Minnesota. Members of the Odawa Indian tribe have said they have tracked two packs of wolves for three years in the extreme northern Lower Peninsula, one in the Rogers City area and the other at Wilderness State Park west of Mackinaw City. Dennis Fijalkowski, executive director of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy in Bath, thinks wolves have been in the Lower Peninsula for three or four years, based on sightings by numerous observers. "This is going to force the DNR to take another look at its management policies," Fijalkowski said. "Now that we know wolves are in the Lower Peninsula, we're going to have to answer questions like where are they, and how many will people tolerate." Jan Van Hoesin of Rogers City is a former middle school science teacher who now does educational shows for schoolchildren with her pet lynx, bobcat, coyotes, raccoons and foxes. She also is a taxidermist and said the DNR had contacted her about mounting the dead wolf. "I've mounted a few wolves and coyotes," she said. "I've compared their measurements, and if you have them side-by-side, they're easy to tell apart. Besides, who'd want to radio-collar a coyote?" Female coyotes in Michigan average 20-25 pounds and males 25-30. Adult wolves run 70 pounds on up for females and 90-110 for males. The DNR has put radio collars on a number of UP wolves to monitor their movements and the growth of the population. Wolves are controversial animals, popular with the public at large but disliked by many farmers and hunters, who say wolves kill too many livestock and deer. The UP wolf population has grown to the point that the state and federal governments are in the process of removing the wolf from Michigan's endangered species list. That would allow the state to begin a management program, which could include killing wolves in areas where they come into conflict with people. http://www.freep.com/sports/outdoors/wolf26e_20041026.htm _______________________________________________
