International Wolf Center event to be held this weekend in Minnesota

The International Wolf Center will host its first global event in five years when wolf experts from 19 nations will meet in Duluth, Minn., this weekend to discuss the future of the animal and its interactions with people.

The symposium, “Wolves and Humans at the Crossroads,” is the Wolf Center’s first event since 2005 and more than 450 people have registered. Wolf advocates, researchers and wildlife managers will gather on Saturday for a debate about hunting, trapping and wolf protection.

"Global interest in wolves, both wolf research and just a general public interest, just seems to be growing," said the Wolf Center's Nancy Gibson. “A lot has happened over the past eight years.”

Wolf hunts were held in Minnesota and Wisconsin last year -- and will soon begin again -- and the first annual wolf hunting and trapping season is slated to start in Michigan within the next few weeks.

Minnesota has an estimated 2,200 wolves, down from nearly 3,000 a decade ago. Wisconsin has about 800 wolves and Michigan about 500. Wolves are also facing problems internationally in countries including Russia and France.

“We are strong advocates for protection of the wild places wolves need to live,” Gibson said. “With the human population ever increasing, and more people living where wolves live, wolves will usually come out on the short among these two species that historically haven’t gotten along very well.”