See!? We’ve got to kill them before they kill… Fluffy. Wolf attacks on dogs are up sharply this year, reports MPR’s Dan Kraker, with “…six dogs… killed and four seriously injured” in the past five weeks. Part of the problem? “The placement of wolves on the Endangered Species List, however, prevents the state from holding a managed wolf hunt. Now wolves can only be killed in defense of human life. … If an attack on pets or livestock is verified, federal trappers can trap and kill wolves caught within a half mile of the incident. In the past nine years, trappers have killed between 114 and 262 in any given year, said John Hart, who oversees the program at the USDA Wildlife Services office in Grand Rapids.”

This is why you don’t want to put all your turkey eggs in one basket. The AP reports, “Sen. Amy Klobuchar says the federal government should consider whether poultry producers struggling with bird flu should be compensated for every bird lost to the virus, not just those that are euthanized when it’s found in a flock.”

Some ill-considered tweets have netted a Minneapolis man serious legal charges. Per AP’s Amy Forliti (in the Pioneer Press), “According to an FBI affidavit, Mahamed Abukar Said used his Twitter account to threaten to kill a federal law enforcement official and demand that the men be freed. In one tweet on Wednesday, Said wrote, ‘the Feds are getting two choices. Either they gon free my bros or the gon have a massacre happen then they gon take me too,’ the affidavit said. … Said also used Twitter to retaliate against a man who cooperated with authorities, the affidavit said, and posted a picture of the informant on Thursday.” Again:

Copy editors rejoice: You no longer need to remember if it’s “Lund’s and Byerlys” or “Lunds and Byerly’s.” The Star Tribune’s Mike Hughlett writes, “Lunds and Byerly’s supermarkets, two well-known chains with the same owner, will soon sport the same name, too: ‘Lunds & Byerlys.’ … The re-branding will kick off Thursday at the Byerly’s store in Woodbury, when new signage will be revealed. Also on Thursday, new employee uniforms and grocery bags will carry the new name at all Lunds and Byerly’s stores.

In other news…

Minnesota may have forgotten about Michele Bachmann, but President Obama hasn’t: the president mentioned the former 6th District representative during his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. [Huffington Post]

Minnesota Senate tax plan less aggressive with cuts than the House [AP via WCCO]

The Minnesota Court of Appeals tossed out Michael Harlow’s defamation suit against the Human Services department over information related to his firing from the psychiatric hospital in St. Peter. [MPR’s NewsCut]

Rural utilities no longer in hot water over water heaters if Obama signs Klobuchar bill [Brainerd Dispatch]

Beetlemania continues unchecked: “Emerald ash borer detected in an 8th Minnesota county” [Star Tribune]

After the layoffs of hundreds Iron Range workers, U.S. Steel would please like a break on its mining lease costs. [Minnesota Brown]

Minneopa State Park is preparing for its future bison herd with a — probably unnecessary — fence. [Mankato Free Press]

Good for her: St. Catherine grad Stacy Tornell works as a sign language interpreter in Fargo Public Schools [Inforum]

Minnesota music mainstay Charlie Parr has a new album coming out tomorrow [Austin Daily Herald]

Join the Conversation

30 Comments

  1. We may have created this wolf problem by hunting them

    We told yo so. the problem with hunting wolves like herd instead of pack animals is you can’t pluck a wolf out of pack. If you kill an alpha male or female the pack can be driven into disarray and young wolves won’t learn how to hunt properly. That means they’ll go for low hanging fruit rather than game for food… and that might mean pets and farm animals.

    1. That’s a …

      bit of a stretch. I spend a lot of time at my second home in a western state which is overpopulated with wolves. They are nothing but nusiances. They kill not only for food but for sport.

      2. You mentioned that before…

        Wyoming has roughly 330 wolves. That’s hardly overpopulated. The ecological benefits of their return to the land cannot be overstated.

              1. The ranchers are welcome to their own opinions

                but not their own facts. Understandably, the area is not their primary concern, but it is for millions of other people.

                1. Brian,…

                  you speak like someone who has never lived outside of your little cocoon known as Minnesota. I have made friends with these ranchers (not an easy thing to do) and hunt and fish on their property. I am well aware of the destruction the wolves do to their livestock on a regular basis. They have also significantly reduced the size of the elk herds in Montana. I challenge you to take a trip to one of these western states with your “wolf” message.

                  1. It’s a shame and very telling

                    that you have to rely on characterizing me to make a point. Instead why not prove that the re-introduction of wolves has damaged the ecosystem? In the Greater Yellowstone Area is a place I have traveled extensively in over the past 25 years. Ranchers should be compensated. I’m not arguing against that. But, the damage done to the land by too many ungulates is undeniable and the science conducted by Doug Smith and others confirms that–as well as the recovery of the land. There is more to this than just ranchers and elk harvest numbers and you are ignoring that.

      3. “They kill not only for food but for sport”

        This is the sort of thing that is right out of medieval fairy tales. It’s right up there with the myth that wolves will only eat the lips off of an elk and leave the rest to rot. Another one of my favorites campfire tales is that the wolves from Canada are some sort of “super wolf” even though there is no taxonomic analysis that even suggests this might be true.

  2. Where are the dogs?

    Are these dogs being snatched from yards, or are they running free in the woods? My father was a game warden, and one of the big problems in wildlife management is that of “house pet” dogs who run free, form packs and take down deer. I wouldn’t mind the wolves eating those. However, if they’re coming in through the doggie door and scarfing up Puffykins in mid-yip, I suppose something would need to be done.

    1. I have friends in Ely

      who have dealt with wolves attacking pet dogs. Most dogs are attacked in their own yard while they were out conducting their daily business. One of their neighbors shot three wolves from pack of five after they had come into his yard and attacked his Mastiff. And no one reported it to the DNR either.

      1. What a surprise!

        Is that anarchy or taking the law into your own hands? LOL

  3. I know of 3 or 4 attacks on pets in my small area alone. Most folks don’t report it and will shoot wolves in their yards, which again is not reported. I guess we’ll see if hunting caused the wolves to kill pets because with them being protected again, dog attacks should go down. I don’t believe that one bit and wolves will be de-listed in a year or two. I live in the country and you never see roaming dogs anymore. In our area lost dogs don’t make it home, they are eaten.

    1. Be realistic

      If hunting did, indeed, destabilize the social structure of wolves with one of the effects being the recent uptick in attacks on dogs, a re-stabilization of their social structure is not likely to happen in a year or two. Destabilizing a social structure can be done relatively quickly and easily. Re-establishing a stable social structure usually takes more time.

      In addition, and sad to say, these wolves are possibly now learning a new set of behaviors which is bringing them success in the form of a “new” food source. Those new learned behaviors may persist, and dogs in wolf territory may be at increased risk from the wolf population from now on.

      And all because we had to go and throw a monkey wrench into the mix and give in to the hunters’ desire to be able to go out and shoot wolves.

      As usual, the animals pay for the humans’ selfish thoughtlessness.

  4. How Does One Attract Wolves?

    I would love to get rid of some of these damned yapping dogs in my neighborhood. Nothing else has been effective. Wolves would be far better neighbors.

  6. By the way…

    the 330 wolves in wyoming does NOT include all the federal puppies in Yellowstone Park…they supposedly never leave the park boundaries….yeah right!!

    Alot of you eco-warriors from the twin cities need to take a trip up north and look at how the deer herd has been decimated….talk to the pet owners who dog & cats have been taken…….l

    Better yet…lets drop a pack or two in the suburbs…how bout one in Eagan and the other in Woodbury…

    too many of you are the NIMBY types…sounds romantic as long as I don’t have to live with it…

    Greg Price

    1. So what is the total number? What should it be?

      The park service says there are roughly 480 wolves in the Greater Yellowstone area–huge area. Clearly the land itself has benefitted from reduced ungulate numbers and clearly hunters are doing fine in Wyoming. Also, deer historically have been present in low numbers in northern Minnesota and have done tremendous damage to the forest ecosystem.

      I honestly do not mind a limited wolf harvest but delisting the wolf via a congressional budget rider and not by the protocols of the ESA was not the way to go.

      Greg, rather than name calling, why not show how zero wolves benefits the entire ecosystem?

    2. I love that logic

      “The wolves are killing and eating the deer that I want to kill and eat.”

  7. NEVER SAID ZERO WOLVES

    I never said zero wolves…i am in favor of the DNR managing the wolf population just like any other MN resource with a regulated hunting and trapping season.

    In an ideal world this would be done without federal (Maryland Court) interference.

    A reduced population would be better for all IMHO.

    greg Price

  8. ‘The Big Bad wolf’

    Once again ‘ they find’ that the root cause of the human’s continuous encroachment into previously secluded wildlife areas of area States is the Big Bad Gray Wolf.

    Of course, the wolf has always been the fall guy for man’s greed…be it hunters who want to shoot a deer every time he elects to invade the woods or the retiree who builds a city-like mansion within previously undeveloped Northern back country.

    There always has to be a default fall guy…..no matter what the perceived problem is that the uninformed is experiencing. The wolf is easy pickings for those who do not nor want to understand nature and it’s history.

    1. I understand what IMHO means…

      But, your opinion does not resolve the issue. What is that number?

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