MADISON, Wis. — Six Chippewa tribes, which regard wolves as sacred, sued the state Natural Resources Department to stop a wolf hunt. The wildlife agency has scheduled a season in November. A quota is set: 119 wolves. The tribes, however, claim a wolf hunt is not for the state to set. They point to treaties in the mid-1800s that gave tribes the right to half of wolf quotas in territory they ceded to the United States. And they want none. Their message: Protect wolves, don’t kill them. The tribes noted that a state-approved hunt in 2020 got out of control. Hunters went way beyond the quota and killed 218 wolves in just four days. The DNR has been under Republican pressure from the state Senate yo allow wolf-hunting. The Senate, in turn, has pressured by livestock interests to rid the state of wolves as a threat to their herds.
