Wolf Control In Minnesota Gets More Funding

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A week after federal money ran out for helping Minnesota farmers and ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has come up with money to continue providing wolf control services through the end of the year.

Members of Minnesota's congressional delegation wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue earlier this week to ask for emergency funding. They heard back late Wednesday that the USDA has agreed to fund wolf control activities through the end of the year and will fund them next year, too.

The lawmakers cited Minnesota's growing wolf population, which rose to an estimated 2,900 last winter.

It's illegal for farmers and ranchers to shoot wolves that prey on livestock, but federal government provides trapping services to livestock producers facing problem wolves.