wolf hunt

A high-profile group of Minnesota senators is backing a five-year moratorium on sport hunting and trapping of wolves in Minnesota.

The Humane Society of the United States and other groups are suing to restore federal protections for wolves in the western Great Lakes region. The groups filed the lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia on Tuesday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Minnesota is closing its inaugural wolf hunting and trapping season in the final remaining zone as of Thursday evening. The Department of Natural Resources says hunters and trappers have now registered 181 wolves killed in the northwestern zone.

The Department of Natural Resources says it expects to soon fix a problem with the website that tallies the number of wolves killed in the state's inaugural wolf season. Hunters and trappers are required to check the site or a telephone hotline to see whether the quota has been reached and the season has been closed.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is closing the state's smallest wolf hunting and trapping zone effective Friday evening. The DNR says nine wolves have been taken in the east-central zone, where the quota is 10 for the late season, which opened Nov. 24.

Minnesota hunters killed at least 17 wolves during the opening weekend of the late wolf season, where trappers had their first chance at the animals. According to the Department of Natural Resources, seven wolves were taken in the Northeast Zone as of Sunday evening and 10 in the Northwest Zone.

The early season for Minnesota's first regulated wolf hunt has closed with nearly 150 wolves killed. The state Department of Natural Resources numbers show that by the Sunday 10 p.m. deadline for registering the last day's wolf kills, hunters reported 147 animals taken in the state's three zones.

A Minnesota man has been convicted of violating the Endangered Species Act and lying to a federal official in connection with the 2010 killing of two gray wolves - a threatened species at the time.

The state says more than 100 wolves have been killed during Minnesota's first managed wolf hunt. The Department of Natural Resources says 109 wolves have been taken in the first eight days of the hunt, which includes 47 in the northeast hunting zone.

The Department of Natural Resources says 50 wolves were killed during the opening weekend of Minnesota's first managed wolf hunt. The region's wolves were taken off the endangered list last January.