Minnesota DNR: No wolf season until 2022 at soonest
FILE - This April 18, 2008, file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife shows a gray wolf. As many as one-third of Wisconsin's gray wolves likely died at the hands of humans in the months after the federal government announced removal of legal protections, according to a study released Monday, July 5, 2021.[AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary Kramer, File]
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says it won’t consider holding a wolf hunting or trapping season until 2022 at the earliest.
The agency said in a statement Wednesday that it’s taking longer than expected to update its 20-year-old wolf management plan, and it’s now expected to be done by March.
Then-President Donald Trump’s administration in November ended Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in most of the United States, leaving states and tribes in charge of overseeing the animals.
Some states, including Wisconsin, moved quickly to liberalize hunting and trapping rules.
Minnesota last held wolf seasons from 2012-14.