Image by Christel SAGNIEZ from Pixabay ” data-image-title=”grey wolf” data-image-meta='{“aperture”:”6.3″,”camera”:”NIKON D500″,”focal_length”:”122″,”iso”:”400″,”shutter_speed”:”0.002″}’ data-comments-opened=”0″ data-orig-size=”1920,1280″ data-orig-file=”https://wigreenfire.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/wolf-2782616_1920.jpg” data-permalink=”https://wigreenfire.org/wgf-statement-on-august-11-2021-nrb-action-on-fall-wolf-hunt-quota/wolf-2782616_1920/” data-attachment-id=”3104″>

Gray wolf. Image via Pixabay.

WGF responds to killing of wolves in Price County

Wisconsin’s Green Fire thanks the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) for apologizing to the state’s Ojibwe tribes and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) for inadequate contacts prior to the department’s decision to kill nine wolves in Price County in mid-September.

In a report on Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin DNR apologizes for not consulting with tribes on the killing of 9 wolves, WDNR Secretary Karen Hyun said in a statement, “I am deeply sorry for the DNR’s lack of communication with Tribal Nations and GLIFWC in this process and, as I discussed with the tribes and GLIFWC at annual consultation, I am committed to improving our collaboration and communication with the tribes around wolf conflicts going forward.”

While Wisconsin’s Green Fire (WGF) acknowledges there could be circumstances when lethal removal of wolves is necessary, particularly in response to verified human health and safety complaints, our organization urges the WDNR to improve its policy on when to engage the state’s Indigenous tribes regarding those complaints.

WDNR representatives should communicate directly with tribal leaders and GLIFWC whenever the agency is considering killing a wolf or wolves within the Ceded Territories. The direct contacts should occur in advance of the lethal action and include information on other options, such as interventions to change wolf behavior.

WGF is responding to GLIFWC’s Oct. 5 statement, GLIFWC objects to the recent culling of Ma’iinganag (Wolves) in Price County, regarding the mid-September trapping and killing of an entire pack of nine wolves in an area of Price County east of the Flambeau River State Forest in the Town of Flambeau. The WDNR decided the lethal action was warranted in response to human safety complaints from July 2025 through August 2026. Attempts to change pack behavior failed and three human safety complaints were made within a one-week period during August of this year, according to the agency.

The WDNR authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to eliminate the pack.

While the State of Wisconsin and the tribes do not co-manage wolves outside of reservations within the Ceded Territories, WDNR should have notified GLIFWC and the tribes of every step in the decision-making process, from attempts to change the pack’s behavior toward humans to the rationale for lethal action.

WGF recognizes that Lake Superior Ojibwe represented by GLIFWC regard wolves as a clan relative.

In its objection to the WDNR’s decision, GLIFWC states: “This action damages existing relationships and fractures trust. We remind the WDNR and USDA Wildlife Services to involve GLIFWC and its members in the decision-making processes. Simply handing us the remains of our relatives after killing them does not constitute meaningful consultation.”

GLIFWC’s statement reminds WDNR officials of Gov. Tony Evers 2019 Executive Order #18 that reaffirms the intergovernmental relationships between the State of Wisconsin and tribes. “Order #18 addresses consultation,” the statement says, and “directs each state agency to consult tribal governments on matters that may directly or indirectly impact tribal nations.”

WGF stands by our recommendation in the 2020 publication, Creating a Shared Vision for Wolves in Wisconsin, that the state should “recognize tribal sovereignty and respect the cultural views of wolves held by Native American tribes through meaningful collaboration.”

WGF restates the publication’s conclusion here:

“The next chapter of our long relationship between humans and wolves in the Great Lakes region is about to begin. With wolf populations stabilizing and wolf packs believed to have occupied most favorable territories, the people of Wisconsin have the opportunity to create a sustainable co-existence with this iconic species for the first time since European settlement.”

Achieving sustainable co-existence will require timely and open communication between WDNR and the state’s Indigenous tribes.