Duluth, Minn. — Minnesota wolf hunters have killed 64 wolves as of 8 p.m. Monday in the first weekend of the state’s first regulated wolf hunt.

The DNR set a quota of 200 wolves for this first season, which runs concurrently with the deer rifle-hunting season. The opening weekend harvest is in line with the agency’s expectations, said DNR wolf expert Dan Stark.

Bryan Heiney of Duluth killed this wolf at about noon Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 in southern Koochiching County, Minn., on the third day of the state’s first wolf hunting season. (Photo courtesy of Bryan Heiney)

“Typically about 50 percent of the harvest occurs the first weekend, and that’s when most of the hunters are out there,” Stark said. “We aren’t going to know exactly until the end of the season, but it’s likely to track that pattern.”

The number of wolves killed so far in Minnesota is higher than at the beginning of other states’ hunts, Stark said. He also said the agency will survey hunters about their methods and how long they hunted. That information will be used to make any needed changes to next year’s hunt.

At the end of Monday, the DNR closed the east-central wolf hunting zone around Lake Mille Lacs where eight of the zone’s allotted nine wolves were killed over the weekend. Hunters will be able to kill another 200 wolves during a second season beginning at the end of the November. That season will include trappers as well as hunters.

News Link:-http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/11/05/environment/wolf-hunt/

Fewer than 100 Wild Red Wolves Remain in the world

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission recently approved a temporary state rule that allows the hunting of coyotes at night using spotlights, including in the area inhabited by the only wild population of red wolves, one of the world’s most endangered animals.

Take action now! Sign our petition calling on the commission to halt all coyote hunting — day or night — within the red wolf recovery area.

Red wolves once roamed most of the Southeastern United States, but harsh predator control programs and habitat loss resulted in their near elimination — and in 1980 red wolves were declared extinct in the wild.

After a small population of captive red wolves was reintroduced into the eastern part of North Carolina, the species slowly began to repopulate and today about 100 red wolves have regained a fragile foothold in the wild.

Red wolves and coyotes are similar in size, coats and coloring, so red wolves are frequently mistaken for coyotes, even in daylight. In nighttime conditions it is nearly impossible to tell them apart.

Please take this urgent action today!

At least two red wolves have already been killed within the eastern North Carolina area designated for red wolf recovery. Defenders of Wildlife has joined two other conservation organizations to file suit in the Superior Court of Wake County, North Carolina to prevent nighttime coyote hunting throughout North Carolina, including within the red wolf recovery area.

The groups have also put the North Carolina Wildlife Commission on notice that we will seek a federal enforcement action unless it stops all coyote hunting — daytime or nighttime — in the area where these critically endangered wolves live.

That’s why we need supporters like you to speak out on behalf of these wolves and tell the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to halt all coyote hunting in the red wolf recovery area!

The red wolf only exists in the state of North Carolina, and with a population so small and fragile, an increase in red wolf shooting deaths could mean they’ll never recover

Petition link:-https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2503