State lawmakers urge DNR to decide against criminal charges in wolf incident

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A group of Michigan state lawmakers is urging the Department of Natural Resources to use “common sense” as it explores whether to bring criminal charges against a hunter who unknowingly killed a gray wolf earlier this year in Calhoun County.

DNR exploring criminal charges against hunter who shot wolf

State Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay, who represents parts of St. Clair and Macomb counties, penned a letter to the agency saying criminal charges won’t “alleviate” any of the issues that led to the incident.

The endangered animal was reportedly shot and killed in January. The hunter, who was with a guide and about 300 miles away from any known gray wolf habitat, told the DNR that they thought it was a coyote. However, some experts say it was apparent that the animal was not a coyote. DNR large carnivore specialist Brian Roell told Bridge Michigan that he only needed “one look at the photos” to know it wasn’t a coyote.

“As the wolf population has grown, there has been increasing interactions between wolves and human populations — particularly in rural Upper Peninsula communities where livestock is raised,” DeBoyer wrote in the letter. “Punishing Michigan hunters and farmers will not alleviate the issues we are facing. I am hoping common sense and a commitment to solutions will come of this event — not criminal charges that will impact someone for the rest of their life.

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Twenty-five other legislators co-signed DeBoyer’s letter to the DNR, including state Reps. Joseph Fox, R-Fremont; Pat Outman, R-Six Lakes; Bryan Posthumus, R-Rockford; and Angela Rigas, R-Alto.

According to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, any person who knowingly kills an endangered animal faces up to one year in prison and a $50,000 fine. Gray wolves are only allowed to be legally killed if there is a direct and immediate threat to human life.

DNR data shows virtually no gray wolf activity in Michigan’s lower peninsula over the last several decades.

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A wolf that had been radio collared was captured and killed in Presque Isle County in October 2004, making it the first wild wolf found in the Lower Peninsula in several decades. Track surveys in 2011 and 2015 found some signs. Biologists with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians found scat and spotted a wolf on a trail camera in 2014, however, no other genetic verification has been found since.

The DNR plans to do another survey next winter.

“(A negative survey result) doesn’t mean that one doesn’t exist down there. Anything like that. It’s just that they’re at such low occurrence that we aren’t able to detect them at this time,” Roell told News 8 last week.

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