It seems to me the Department of Natural Resources has made its own problem regarding wolf depredation payments (“DNR budget shortfall likely to impact wolf depredation payments,” July 19).
Currently, if an animal is injured or killed by a wolf, the state pays the “owner” up to $2,500. The owner receives this money even when they knowingly, willingly and even enthusiastically send their dogs to go hunting into dangerous territories. The dogs don’t have a choice in the matter. Their injuries, their deaths, are collateral damage in their owner’s pursuit of entertainment.
If our state didn’t allow hunting of bears and wolves with dogs, these animals wouldn’t be injured in what amounts to a dogfight. Of course, dog fighting is illegal in Wisconsin, as is all animal fighting.
The solution to the DNR’s funding issue is simple — prohibit the hounding of bears and wolves. Many other states ban the use of dogs to hunt bear. And Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to allow packs of dogs to pursue wolves.
It should be easy to connect the dots here. We must stop rewarding owners who choose to send their dogs into hazardous encounters with wolves. Their poor decision-making should not result in the pain and suffering of these animals, nor in a steady supply of “compensation” from state coffers.
This simple change would leave plenty of money in the fund to pay out for confirmed livestock losses, as was surely the intention of the fund in the first place.
Jill Giencke, Cudahy
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin created its own problem with wolf depredation pay | Letter
Reporting by Letters to the Editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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