One of the nation’s leading wolf experts will speak at two events this week as Michigan residents get ready to decide the fate of their state’s wolves on Proposals 1 and 2 on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot. Dr. John Vucetich, co-director of the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project, will help sort fact from fiction at forums in Detroit and Allendale.

Dr. Vucetich will speak on “The Truth About Michigan Wolves: Deconstructing the Myth.” He will be accompanied by Michael Markarian, chief program and policy officer for The Humane Society of the United States. All events are free and open to the public.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: If you would like to interview Dr. Vucetich or Michael Markarian, please contact Jim Karshner at (517) 896-2004.

Schedule:

• Friday, Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m.: Wayne State University, Room 101, State Hall, 5143 Cass, Detroit
• Saturday, Oct. 25, 6 p.m.: Grand Valley State University, Cook-DeWitt Center, 1110 Kirkhof Center, Allendale

The Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project, which began in 1958, is the world’s longest ongoing study of either wolves or moose. Dr. Vucetich, who is also an associate professor of wildlife ecology at Michigan Technological University in the Upper Peninsula, opposes the Michigan wolf hunt. In 2013 he and other prominent researchers from Michigan Tech, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State University and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians submitted a detailed report to the state’s Natural Resources Commission outlining the lack of science behind the plan to hunt wolves in Michigan. That report can be found online here.

“You shouldn’t kill a living creature without a good reason,” said Vucetich. “I have not met a hunter that believes otherwise.” You can view a video of Dr. Vucetich discussing wolf ecology and his opposition to Proposals 1 and 2 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SD99Z6OAoM.

On Nov. 4, residents can stop the trophy hunting of wolves in Michigan and stop the power grab by politicians to take away their voting rights by voting NO on Proposals 1 and 2. Proposal 1 would establish a trophy hunting season for wolves. Proposal 2 would grant the politically appointed, unelected Natural Resources Commission the power to designate wolves and other protected animals as game species to be hunted and trapped without any oversight by the legislature or voters.