Federal wolf trapping funds to continue

The federally funded wolf-trapping effort in Minnesota that ran out of money and shut down Friday could be running again within days after the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture pledged new money for the program.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said yesterday that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pledged to use money from the agency’s operating budget to restart the wolf trapping and killing program.
“Secretary Vilsack has assured me that he has found the money to extend the program out to the end of the year,” said Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “We need this program to keep Minnesota livestock and residents safe. The gap in that coverage was unacceptable.”

Klobuchar said her focus now is to push forward an effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to “delist” wolves as an endangered species by the end of 2011 and give management back to state and tribal natural resource agencies. The state then could begin more-aggressive wolf management efforts, including allowing the public to shoot wolves causing trouble.

Eighth District Congressman Chip Cravaack agreed and also urged Congress to legislate Minnesota wolf delisting rather than wait for the Endangered Species Act protocol to unfold in coming months.

Because expert federal trappers are able to pinpoint their efforts near where farmers and pet owners are having problems, Klobuchar said she also hopes to keep federal money available for the trapping program even after the state assumes management of wolves. State officials and some farmers have asked for the federal government to split the cost of focused trapping.

Carol Bannerman, a USDA spokeswoman, confirmed the program extension, but only for Minnesota. USDA trapping efforts in 16 other states that are normally funded through earmarks, including Wisconsin, have not been restored.

The USDA trapping program has been killing wolves in Minnesota since 1978. Last year alone, the program investigated 272 complaints and killed 192 wolves. In 2009, it killed 199 wolves. This year it was up to 189 until the federal budget year ended Friday and the current congressional earmark for the program ran out of money.