LANSING, MI - Three major newspaper groups - the Lansing State Journal, Battle Creek Enquirer and the statewide MLive Media Group - have urged the legislature to allow voters to determine the fate of wolf hunting in Michigan. In recent editorials, all three asked the legislature to send to the November 4th ballot an initiative giving the Natural Resources Commission authority to designate wolves and other protected species as game. The initiative would join two other referendums already on the ballot to overturn laws allowing wolf hunting.

In response to the Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management initiative submitting signatures for the November 2014 ballot, Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is urging lawmakers to allow the measure to go to the ballot and let voters decide on this and two other similar wolf hunting and wildlife issues. If the initiative is certified by the Board of State Canvassers, Michigan lawmakers have the option to pass it into law, making another end-run around the state’s voters and denying Michiganders the chance to voice their opinions.

 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.

The following is a statement from Jill Fritz, director of the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected campaign, in response to today’s Mlive.com article, “Cattle farmer John Koski, divisive symbol in Michigan wolf hunt, to plead in animal neglect case”

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected submitted more than 229,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office to place a second referendum on the November 4 ballot that would protect wolves and restore the right of Michigan voters to weigh in on critical wildlife issues. Michigan voters from all 83 counties have signed petitions on two ballot referendums expressing their support for the protection of Michigan’s fledging wolf population and displeasure with the Legislature’s approval of wolf hunting and taking their voting rights away.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected works to restore the rights of Michigan voters to impact wildlife policy