The number of verified wolf attacks on livestock or pets in Minnesota was down 16 percent in 2011 but still was 6 percent above the five-year average.
Federal officials received 211 complaints last year and verified 109 of them. Wolves killed 129 domestic animals, including 75 calves, 16 cows, nine sheep and six dogs. Wolves also injured four dogs.
Fewer dogs were killed than in the previous two years. Wolves killed 11 dogs in 2009 and 15 in 2010, in addition to wounding another eight dogs last year.
In response to the depredations, trappers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services captured 215 wolves, killing 203 of them. Both numbers are the second highest since the program began in 1970. In comparison, federal trappers captured and killed 192 wolves in 2010.
The top five counties with verified wolf depredations were Carlton (14), Kittson and Beltrami (11), St. Louis (eight) and Cass (seven).
Federal funding has ended for the Wildlife Services depredation management program, and the state is readying to resume management of the wolf. Under the state's plan, property owners in the northeast part of the state could kill wolves if they are an immediate threat to livestock or pets. On the southern and western edges of the state's 35,000-square-mile wolf range, property owners could kill any wolf on their land.
Crappie contest revivedThe Lake Minnetonka crappie fishing contest -- for 43 years a harbinger of spring that kicked off the fishing season -- is being revived after dying last year.
Minnesota Bound host Ron Schara said he's bringing the contest back on May 5. It will be dubbed the Minnesota Bounty Lake Minnetonka Crappie Contest.
