LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- A state House committee approved a measure Tuesday that would change how hunting is managed in Michigan, and bypass a referendum on wolf hunting if it’s on the ballot next year.
Michigan Public Radio’s Rick Pluta reports two questions dominated the hearing on the bill:
And that’s whether hunting is an appropriate part of plans to manage wolves in the Upper Peninsula, and whether the Legislature should approve a new law to allow wolf hunts before the referendum.
Ellie Mayes circulated petitions to put the referendum on the ballot.
"This is a subversion of democracy," she says. "The entire point of the bill is to do an end run around a referendum.”
State Representative Ed McBroom is from the western U-P.
“It is possible for a minority to be silenced," he says. "In this case, the minority is very isolated.”
He says pets and livestock are endangered in pockets of the UP and how to manage that problem should not be a question that’s voted on by the entire state.