Tiffany gets wolf plan through house, calls it first step

(The Center Square) – A Northwoods’ congressman says he has the science on his side in the debate over what to do about the gray wolf.

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany got his plan to take the gray wolf off the endangered species list through the House. It was a close vote, just 209 to 205, and the plan faces a dim future in the U.S. Senate.

Still, Tiffany said there’s more than enough evidence that the gray wolf population is large enough to remove it from the protected list.

“The science is clear; the gray wolf has met and exceeded recovery goals,” Tiffany said in a statement. “[This vote] represents an important first step towards restoring local control over the skyrocketing gray wolf population in Wisconsin.”

Tiffany said there have been plenty of attacks on dogs, deer and cattle in Wisconsin that prove his point.

Keith Mark, founder and CEO of Hunter Nation, said the proposal to de-list the gray wolf should get a vote in the Senate.

“Wildlife should not be a partisan issue. Unmanaged wolf populations are causing significant problems in states that have both Republican and Democrat Senators,” Mark told The Center Square.

Hunter Nation has been one of the loudest voices in the debate over how to handle wolves in Wisconsin.

Mark said Tiffany’s plan is not only based in science, it is based in the government’s own data and suggestions.

“What message does it send when we place an animal on the list, set population goals and establish strict management criteria for de-listing, and when the animal achieves the pre-set population goals, it is not taken off of the endangered list? By every metric set from the onset, wolves have far exceeded every population goal established. Gray wolves are no longer endangered. They need to be managed at the state level like all other wildlife,” Mark added.

But even if that did happen, the future of wolves in Wisconsin is likely sealed.

The Wisconsin DNR is moving ahead with its own wolf management plan that essentially forbids wolf hunting and trapping.

Hunter Nation is opposed to that, as is Tiffany and many of Wisconsin’s other Republican congressmen.