NMU students join wolf hunting debate

(Marquette, MI) – Listing spiritual, religious, cultural, ecological and common sense reasons, two groups of Northern Michigan University students are hosting an anti-wolf hunt education and petition signing event Wednesday to  put the issue before Michigan voters.

The “Wolf Hunt Petition Signing Night” is from 7-10 p.m. Wednesday, February 27,  at NMU.  The session will take place in Jamrich 103.  It is sponsored by the NMU EarthKeepers II Student Team and the Native American Students Association (NASA).

Saying she opposes the proposed Michigan wolf hunt “because it is senseless” and motivated by money, NMU EarthKeepers II Student Team member Katelin Bingner, 20, said “the wolf isn’t our enemy, the wolf is closer to being something like our brother.”

Only registered Michigan voters can sign the petitions provided by Keep Michigan Wolves Protected.  The goal is to get enough signatures to force a November 2014 referendum on the wolf debate.

Bingner,  an NMU sophomore biology major from Spring Arbor, Michigan, says hunting wolves is a trophy sport because they have little or no fur value and are not generally consumed by humans.

In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed western Great Lakes wolves from Endangered Species Act.   In a lame-duck session, Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed Public Act 520 in late 2012 turning the wolf into a game animal and giving the Michigan Natural Resources Commission the power to decide the creation of a wolf hunting season.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected organizers have until March 27 to get 161,305 signatures in the effort to allow voters to decide the fate of the wolf hunting bill.