Jessica Lange Urges Minn. Gov. To Halt Wolf Hunts

CLOQUET, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota native and actress Jessica Lange is urging Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to suspend the state's wolf hunt.

The two-time Academy Award winner wrote a letter to Dayton, dated Wednesday, on behalf of anti-hunt group Howling for Wolves.

Lange, a Cloquet-area resident, writes that methods used to trap and kill wolves are cruel. She notes that Minnesota's wolf population declined about 25 percent in the last five years, the lowest since 1988.

The letter is posted on Howling for Wolves' website. The group is leading the effort to collect more than 50,000 signatures to present to Dayton.

DNR researchers have said Minnesota's population can sustain a hunt, which starts Nov. 9.

Dayton said in a statement Thursday that only the Minnesota Legislature can change the wolf hunt.

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