Editor:

Wisconsin Assembly candidate Rob Swearingen’s statement on the Wolf Hunt lawsuit fits well with the “uninformed electorate” that today’s GOP dwells on. If only the issue were so black and white.

No where does the candidate mention the depth or scope of the lawsuit. Perhaps he does not know, and likely many legislators who voted for the so called hunt did not even understand the ramifications of using up to six dogs to hunt wolves as mandated by Act 169. For example, no license is required to train wolf hunting hounds using free ranging wolves. Hunters can train their dogs to hunt wolves year round, including times when wolves are at their den and rendezvous sites and during the open season for hunting wolves. So is the scope of the lawsuit.

Mr. Swearingen takes issue with the “radical animal rights activists in Madison,” while neglecting to learn that a main stream conservation group based in the 34th District was one of the plaintiffs. Northwood Alliance board members are active sportsmen, are significant landowners who actively manage timber and are by occupation a builder, a forester, a dentist, an attorney, an accountant, a sales professional, a school teacher, a hospitality business owner and an electrician. They are mainstream occupations, mainstream Northwoods folks, hardly radical and not from Madison!

Mr. Swearingen seems to assume, without offering any data, that the legislature worked hand in hand with the game managers at the DNR. Many folks do not see it that way, but view this as a runaway legislature that thinks politicians and not game managers should decide wildlife management issues, that this issue was based on politics and not science. It seems to me these same advocates for this so called wolf harvest have not trusted the DNR with hardly anything in recent years.

Do we know anyone who will hunt a wolf for food? Is this truly a hunt, or a blood lust toward a species still despised after generations? Forest landowners have suffered far more economic distress from the overabundant deer herd than from wolves.

Too little information bodes poorly for making wise decisions.

Joe Hovel, Conover