Wolf Referendum to be sought

LANSING, Mich.- Recently, the NRC used authority provided through Senate Bill 288,
introduced by Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba and signed by Governor Snyder, to
develop science based regulations including a limited wolf hunt in Michigan to help
manage wolves.
This week the Keep MI Wolves Protected group announced it would seek a new
referendum in order to reverse recently enacted legislation that allows the Michigan
Natural Resources Commission to manage wolves according to sound science as they do
with other game species.
Upon hearing of the renewed referendum attempt, Casperson had the following to say:
"Just as it is their right to pursue a referendum on Michigan law, it is also my
right and obligation as senator for the area where wolves are actually located to
protect the rights of the citizens of the Upper Peninsula, especially in the Western
UP where wolves are very heavily concentrated and are killing pets, livestock, and
wildlife and changing the local way of life.
"I will be relentless in maintaining management policies to ensure that the people
of the Upper Peninsula are heard as they overwhelmingly have pleaded for management
efforts, including hunting, to help address problems caused by a growing wolf
population in their backyards.
"After all, UP residents are the only people whose daily lives are impacted by
wolves in their communities, not the leaders of this referendum effort who primarily
live out of state and are motivated much more by fundraising for their so-called
'animal welfare' organizations than truly protecting animals with management efforts
according to science.
"The out-of-staters and million-dollar organizations, including the Humane Society
of the U.S., who are funding and pushing the effort to oppose the limited wolf
regulations developed by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, do very little
to aid pet shelters as they would lead many to believe.
"Instead, these groups raise money off of misinformation and scare tactics that they
will use again in this new referendum effort to fund their extreme anti-hunting
campaigns and circumvent the will of the people who actually live and are impacted
by wolves in Michigan."