Minnesota: Record Wolf Attacks, Population Control Funding Ends

Farmers who have livestock being attacked by wolves may soon have no way of removing the predators from their land. Federal budget cuts will eliminate the $208,000 wildlife services program that employs ten staff members to help remove wolves that have killed livestock. Over the past year, Sebeka cattle rancher Miles Kuschel said at least three of his cows have been killed by wolves. "Only thing we can do right now is, at night, we check every hour on the hour. We ride through our cows on horseback. We use flashlights, we have blinking lights. We can make noise, honk horns, but that's about all we can do. But the problem is, is the wolves are getting so used to it, they're not afraid of people," Kuschel said. "Two, three wolves a week is not that uncommon," he said. Because the wolf population is considered "threatened" on the endangered species list, farmers can not shoot or trap wolves, even if they're attacking livestock. "Sunday morning, we had a wolf trying to attack a baby calf. The cow was doing her best to protect it, but at that same time, the cow slipped in the mud, fell down and that wolf was right on top of her. If I hadn't ridden up over the ridge and seen that occurring, that wolf would've killed the calf and possibly the cow," he said...more