MADISON (WSAU)  Court proceedings begin today in a lawsuit that seeks to stop Wisconsin’s inaugural wolf hunting season. Dane County Circuit Judge Peter Anderson will hear motions in the case today. Then on Wednesday, a hearing will take place on a request for a temporary injunction to halt the wolf season until the full lawsuit can be considered.

Environmental and animal rights’ groups sued the D-N-R, saying its approval of hunting dogs will result in wolves attacking and killing those dogs. The lawsuit also claims that Wisconsin hunters don’t want a wolf season. But over 10,000 people have applied for two-thousand permits that will give them about a 1-in-20 chance of hunting a wolf. 116 animals can be shot. The original figure was 201, but the D-N-R says Chippewa Indians are entitled to 85 wolves as part of their treaty rights – and the tribes say they won’t allow their allotted animals to be harvested.

The wolf season is scheduled to begin in mid-October, and run through the end of February.