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The Minnesota Department of Conservation also conducted wolf control until 1956. Department personnel used aerial hunting, snaring, and trapping to kill about 140-150 wolves annually from 1949 to 1954 (Anonymous 1980). Aerial hunting was terminated in 1954, and from 1954 to 1956, the annual take dropped to an estimated 70-90 wolves. From 1965 to 1969 there was no State wolf control program, although the public was allowed to take wolves. Until September 1974, anyone could legally kill wolves except in the Superior National Forest.

Fig. 4. Indices to recent wolf depredations on livestock in Minnesota, based on reports received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Minnesota Department of Agriculture data are not included. Total number of complaints received is all complaints received involving wolves and livestock, regardless of whether wolves killed a livestock individual. Number complaints verified is number instances in which FWS investigation of a complaint produced evidence that wolves had killed or injured livestock. Each year after 1975 more than one complaint was verified at some farms. In 1975 the FWS had only a minor program (two trappers and no publicity), but enlarged its staff and publicity in 1976.

In 1969, the State Legislature funded a new "Directed Predator Control Program." It was implemented primarily because of coyote depredations on sheep in the northwestern counties rather than because of widespread depredations by wolves (Stenlund 1974). This program, still in effect, is administered by the DNR's Division of Enforcement. Registered local trappers are designated to remove coyotes (Canis latrans), foxes (Vulpes vulpes), bobcats (Felis rufus), lynxes (Felis lynx), and wolves (before September 1974) that are reported to be damaging domestic animals or wildlife. After verifying a complaint, enforcement personnel designate (1) the area around a farm to be open for predator control, (2) the species to be taken, (3) the period over which control can be conducted, (4) the control methods to be used, and (5) the controllers who can participate. Controllers were paid $50 for each wolf taken, $35 for each coyote, lynx, or bobcat, and $5 for each fox. No limit was set on the number of wolves that could be taken.

Some fraud has been discovered in the program. For example, one wolf killed in the Superior National Forest was transported 130 km to a designated control area where the controller claimed it had been killed (L. D. Mech, personal communication). From 1 July 1969 through August 1974, 293 wolves were trapped and killed (Minnesota DNR files). Records are insufficient to determine the number of claims of damage resulting from wolves or the number of claims verified.

In August 1974, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 took effect in Minnesota. This Act provided complete legal protection to wolves in the State. The maximum penalty for violation of provisions of the Act was set at imprisonment for not more than 1 year, a fine of not more than $20,000, or both (Endangered Species Act of 1973:35-37). Taking of wolves on the State's Directed Predator Control Program terminated on 5 September 1974. Thereafter, farmers were dependent on the Federal Government for protection from wolf depredations.

Wolf control was initiated by the FWS in early 1975. FWS trappers responded to complaints of wolf-livestock problems by livetrapping wolves on or near the problem farms. Because of the Endangered Species Act, the FWS was prohibited from killing wolves captured at the farms from 1975 through early 1978. Therefore, Federal personnel tried translocating the wolves into remote areas of northern Minnesota. In 1975, 17 wolves were livetrapped in response to complaints; 51 were captured in 1976 (including 1 recapture of a translocated wolf); and 59 in 1977, including 9 recaptures.

Fig. 5. Total number of wolves captured and number removed from the population by livestock-depredation control programs in Minnesota, 1970-79. All wolves captured on Minnesota directed control program were killed. Data for 1970-74 represent State fiscal years. Four wolves captured in late summer 1974 are included in fiscal year 1974. Data for 1975-79 represent calendar years.

Altogether, 108 wolves were translocated (105 into the Superior National Forest and 3 into the Beltrami Island State Forest). Nine of these were translocated twice, and one was translocated three times. Nineteen of the wolves were radio-collared; their movements were subsequently monitored by aerial telemetry. The remaining 89 were only ear- tagged for identification. Radio-tracking revealed that most of the wolves left their release sites within a few days and eventually drifted back into or through areas containing livestock (Fritts et al., unpublished data).

Wolves were captured twice at only one farm. In that instance several wolves returned, and further livestock losses were reported there. This farm was the closest (51 km) to the release sites in the Superior National Forest. These data show that relocation of livestock-depredating wolves was not an adequate solution to the depredation problem. However, at the time the only legal alternative to translocating wolves was holding them in captivity.

This FWS program received considerable criticism from wolf preservationists. In some instances livetrapping was authorized after livestock had been chased by wolves. In other instances, trapping was conducted following sightings of wolves at farms where losses had previously occurred. At times, trapping was conducted over extended periods and for distances of up to 8 km from some farms. Many farmers were also critical of the program, claiming that they often had to wait too long before receiving assistance.

The classification of the wolf in Minnesota was changed from "endangered" to "threatened" in April 1978 (FWS 1978), following the recommendations of the Eastern Timber Wolf Recovery Team (Bailey 1978). This new rulemaking (FWS 1978) allowed livestock-depredating wolves to be killed by authorized State or Federal personnel after the wolves had committed "significant depredations on lawfully present domestic animals . . . (4). Furthermore, such designated employees or agents of the Service or the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may take a gray wolf without a permit in Minnesota if such action is necessary to remove from Zone 2, 3, 4, or 5, as delineated in paragraph (d) (3) (1) of this section, a gray wolf committing significant depredations on lawfully present domestic animals, but only if the taking is done in a humane manner."

"Significant depredation" was later defined by the FWS as "the killing or serious maiming of one or more domestic animals by wolves where the imminent threat of additional domestic animals being killed or severely maimed by wolves is apparent" (memo by L. A. Greenwalt, Director, FWS, 12 April 1978). This change in classification was intended to provide greater protection for farmers and reduce local opposition to wolves while providing ample protection for wolves as required by Federal law.

In 1978 wolf captures totaled 40, 4 of which were recaptures of animals translocated in previous years. Twenty-six wolves were killed that year under the modified Federal program. Five wolves were translocated in 1978 before the new rulemaking, but later two of these were recaptured and killed. The remaining wolves were given to zoos or died in handling.

During summer of 1978 several environmental groups claimed that the FWS was not following its own regulations. They objected especially to the trapping procedure at a farm 50 km southeast of International Falls where wolves were being taken as far as 8 km from the farm-wolves that, in the opinion of the environmentalists, probably had not killed cattle at the farm. In fact, 78 (47%) of the 167 wolf captures on the FWS program from 1975 through 1978 were within 8 km of this one cattle ranch because of depredations there.

The groups filed suit against the FWS. Subsequently a Federal judge clarified what already had been implied in the Federal regulations by ordering that control trapping and killing of wolves must be done only after a significant depredation occurs and that the trapping must, as nearly as possible, be directed toward the capture of the wolf or wolves responsible (Federal judge P. McNulty court order, 14 July 1978). To reduce the chances of catching non-depredating wolves, the Federal judge restricted trapping to within 0.4 km of the affected farms. Furthermore, killing of pups was prohibited because the judge did not consider them depredating animals. To comply as much as possible with the court order, the FWS required that three specific conditions be met before trapping could be initiated: (1) presence of a wounded animal or some remains of a livestock carcass, (2) evidence that wolves were responsible for the damage, and (3) reason to believe that additional losses would occur if the wolves were not removed. The Service's trapping program was adjusted in compliance.

Meanwhile, a State program provided up to $100,000 in compensation to farmers for losses of livestock destroyed by wolves in fiscal years 1978 and 1979 (Minnesota Statutes 1978, Section 3.737). Supporters of this legislation claimed that livestock depredations were proliferating and that farmers were sustaining considerable financial losses. The new law provided compensation of up to $400 per animal for livestock killed or injured by wolves. The responsibility for verifying claims of wolf depredation and determining the market value of the livestock was given to the local DNR conservation officer and the University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service's county extension agent, respectively. This program was still in effect in 1980.

Despite the long history of the wolf-livestock problem in Minnesota and the controversy it continually generates, until recently no agency had measured the amount of damage actually caused by wolves. Therefore, it was difficult to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of any of the past programs or to detect long-term trends in the seriousness of the problem. Records of the number of complaints and verified depredations were available only since 1975, and records of the number of wolves taken in livestock depredation control programs were available only since 1969. Records of the number of livestock claimed killed have been kept by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) since 1977 and by the FWS since 1979.

Many residents of northern Minnesota believed that depredations on livestock increased after wolves were legally protected in September 1974. In northwestern Minnesota, there likely was some increase from 1974 to 1976 (Fritts and Mech 1981); however, from 1975 through 1980 the total number of complaints, the number of verified complaints of livestock losses to wolves, and the number of farms in Minnesota with verified losses remained fairly stable (Fig. 4). The number of wolves captured by State and Federal depredation control programs varied considerably during the past decade, but generally declined, as did the number killed (Fig. 5). Although it was not possible to assess the precise effect of the decreased number of wolves killed during recent years, one can conclude that no great increase in livestock losses resulted. Certainly no widespread proliferation of losses has occurred between 1975 and 1980 as indicated by the number of farms where losses were verified by the FWS (Fig. 4), although during each year of this period substantial losses were claimed by a few individual farmers.

These findings suggest that proponents of the State's livestock compensation program overestimated the seriousness of the wolf depredation problem. During the first 9 months of the program no claims were filed, due in part to the lack of public awareness of the new program. Some compensation payments were made in 1978 for losses claimed to have occurred in 1977 (Table 1); nevertheless, even in 1978, the claims totaled less than half of the original appropriation. A single sheep rancher received 66% of the total compensation paid for 1977 losses, and a single cattle rancher received 42% of the amount paid in 1978 and 51 % of that paid in 1979 (MDA files). These figures indicate that the State legislators' perceptions of the seriousness of wolf-livestock depredations were exaggerated.