Defenders of wolves raised a howl in St. Paul on March 22, as they came to the Capitol for Wolf Day 2017. Dr. Maureen Hackett, founder and president of the Minnesota organization Howling For Wolves, said they want “to come up with solutions to having the wolves and communities co-exist.” This year, they want the legislature to repeal the wolf hunting law and to ban snaring of all wild animals.

State Senator Chris Eaton (DFL-Brooklyn Center) called wolves a “keystone species,” essential to the environmental health of forest ecology. She has introduced a bill to ban future wolf hunts State Senator Chuck Wiger (DFL-Ramsey County), a co-author on the wolf protection legislative package, also spoke to the group.

Robert Shimek, an Anishinaabe member of White Earth Reservation, described helping to rescue an orphaned group of five wolf cubs, who made it through the first winter.

Video of the rally

Video above: Dr. Maureen Hackett speaks to supporters at the state capitol.