Jill Fritz, Director of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, issued the following statement following today’s no contest plea agreement by Upper Peninsula farmer John Koski for animal cruelty. Koski was fined more than $1,800.

“Today’s plea agreement by Upper Peninsula farmer John Koski is really an indictment on the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for allowing the abuses to continue for so long. Internal emails show the DNR was aware that Koski was not properly disposing of dead livestock on his farm—thereby attracting predators to the property—yet they provided ongoing assistance and compensation payments in violation of their own guidelines, and allowed incidents at that location to skew statistics on wolf-livestock conflicts across the U.P.
 
“It is outrageous that Michigan’s wolves were used as a scapegoat at the expense of Michigan taxpayers. The fact remains that our state’s first wolf hunt came about from trumped-up charges against these shy and elusive creatures, and was supported by misstatements and scare stories about alleged incidents that have nothing to do with commonly-known wolf behavior.
 
“The DNR’s dismal track record and poor stewardship of taxpayers’ money in the Koski case should have voters asking themselves, ‘Can we trust the DNR and the Natural Resources Commission with important wildlife decisions, especially involving wolves?’”