Due to a cut in federal funding, a program that controls wolves preying on livestock and pets in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan could be in its final days of operation.
The Duluth News Tribune has the story HERE.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture program is now operating on a “day-to-day” basis after the funds that support it were cut in last Friday’s federal budget agreement that avoided a threatened government shutdown.
Program administrators said the program will continue investigating wolf complaints and removing problem wolves while alternative sources of funding are sought. Officials noted, however, that the program could be shut down with little advanced notice.
Wolves, which are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, cannot be trapped or hunted by private citizens. When wolves are thought to be responsible for livestock or pet deaths, USDA officials investigate the matter, trap wolves causing problems, and reimburse citizens for their losses.
Unless funding is re-established, the program will have no funding after October 1, 2011, the start of the new federal fiscal year. Prior to the cut, funding for the program has steadily reduced, from roughly $315,000 in 2005 to $208,000 in 2010.
State officials do not have the authority to manage wolves, although efforts to delist the animal and return it to state control before the end of 2011 are underway.