Mich. House OKs wolf hunting bill

May 2, 2013

• By Chad Livengood and Gary Heinlein
• Detroit News Lansing Bureau

A pack of gray wolves on Isle Royale National Park in northern Michigan. (John Vucetich/Michigan Technological University)

Lansing — Legislation giving Michigan's Natural Resources Commission the power to designate which species of wildlife can be hunted as game is on its way to Gov. Rick Snyder's desk for his consideration.

The Michigan House passed legislation 72-38 on Thursday that would enable the commission to authorize hunting of gray wolves — even if voters repeal the existing wolf hunting law through a referendum.

The Republican-controlled Legislature has fast-tracked the bill through the legislative process less than a month after it was introduced.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Bureau of Elections is determining whether an anti-wolf hunting group has submitted enough valid voter signatures to hold a 2014 referendum on a law passed in 2012 that permits gray wolf hunting.

The House also passed companion legislation, 89-21, declaring the Legislature's support for the right of Michiganians to hunt, fish and take game as allowed by current hunting laws.

The legislation exempts domestic pets, livestock and mourning doves from being hunted. In 2006, voters outlawed the hunting of mourning doves in a statewide vote.

Under the 2012 wolf hunting law, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has proposed allowing hunters to kill up to 47 wolves this fall in parts of Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Luce, Mackinac and Ontonagon counties — all in the Upper Peninsula.

The DNR counted 658 gray wolves roaming the Upper Peninsula this winter. The hunt would be held in areas where wolves have become a problem for livestock and domestic pets.

The group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected said it turned 253,705 signatures for a statewide vote on wolf hunting. It needs 161,305 valid voter signatures to get the measure on the 2014 ballot.

But even if voters reject wolf hunting, the bill would enable the Natural Resources Commission to allow wolf hunting in the U.P. anyway, said Jill Fritz, Michigan State director for the Humane Society of the United States.

The Natural Resources Commission is made up of governor's appointees whose duties now include the setting of rules for hunting critters the Legislature designates as game. It and the DNR are supposed to follow scientific and biological principles as they oversee the taking of game.

The new legislation would expand the commission's authority so it also would be empowered to decide which animals can be hunted. Since its decisions aren't subject to referenda, a commission ruling in favor of wolf hunting couldn't subject to a statewide vote.

"We're very disappointed that the House would go against the will of the people of Michigan in allowing an unelected body like the NRC to make these critical decisions on wildlife," said Fritz, who called on Snyder to veto the legislation.

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