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Wolf Hunting Season To Close Friday

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The third wolf hunting season in Minnesota will close Friday.

Hunters and trappers killed more wolves than state goals.

That's why opponents want to end wolf hunting.

The group "Howling for Wolves" gathered outside the Minnesota DNR office Thursday afternoon.

They say bad management could lead to endangerment again.

"They're not looking at the signs that they've killed wolves much more rapidly this year. It's accelerated and it's because the population is collapsing. They're much more vulnerable. When pack members die the other wolves are gonna be killed easily," Maureen Hackett, from "Howling for Wolves," said.

"We monitor the population annually. We do a population survey. So, we'll do one of those again this winter. And after our season in 2013 we harvested 238 wolves, and the population increased last year," DNR Wildlife Section Chief, Paul Telander, said.

The DNR says numbers for the wolf harvest are set very conservatively.

Wolves came of the endangered species list in 2012.

There are currently about 2,500 wolves in Minnesota.

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