BY RICK PLUTA
Michigan Public Radio Network
A petition drive launches this week to reverse the new law that allows the state to establish a wolf hunting season in the Upper Peninsula. The first step is an appearance this week before a state elections panel.
Keep Michigan Wolves Protected will start collecting signatures once the petition is OK'd by the Board of State Canvassers. Its goal is 225 thousand signatures by the end of March.
That would put the referendum on the November 2014 ballot, and suspend the law until after the election.
Jill Fritz is the Michigan director for the Humane Society and leads the petition drive. She said the gray wolf was only recently removed from the endangered species list, and there are only several hundred wolves in the U.P.
"We owe wolves better than that." Fritz said.
State wildlife officials said limited hunts could help address issues with wolves before they become bigger problems.
Copyright 2013, MPRN