Wolf 527, killed on Buffalo Plateau on Oct. 3. Credit: Dan Stahler / National Parks Service
May 10, 2012
This is one of the most comprehensive articles written about Wolf Wars. Please read!!! Great job WildEarth Guardians!!
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Northern Rocky Mountain Wolves: A Public Policy Process Failure
How Two Special Interest Groups Hijacked Wolf Conservation in America
By Wendy Keefover • WildEarth Guardians
Wolves, once welcomed and restored with
verve in the Northern Rocky Mountains, are now killed by the hundreds by
well-armed hunters. Idaho and Montana have issued over 62,000 hunting
tags on a wolf population that totaled less than 1,300 individuals.
While empirical data show that wolves kill
only miniscule numbers of domestic livestock and generally prey upon
only the weakest native ungulates, the myth of the savage predator and
the wile of lobbying groups prove stronger than truth for some important
decision makers. Northern Rocky Mountain wolves go untolerated and
unprotected, yet, without wolves, ecosystems are impoverished, the
public is deprived of prized wildlife viewing, and decades of federal
investments in wolf restoration are at risk. The Northern Rocky Mountain
wolves may not long endure such intolerance.
The American West, and indeed the planet,
suffers from a lack of apex carnivores. In July 2011, twenty-three
biologists issued an admonition in Science with the publication of their
article, “Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth.” Authors forewarn that
events not previously imagined, such as changes in fire regimes, exotic
species invasions, carbon sequestration, and other calamities, will
befall earth’s ecosystems as a result of the loss of apex consumers—both
aquatic and terrestrial.
In this report, we explore facets of wolf
policy, biology and ecology. We look at the economics and human values
associated with wolves, and offer five pragmatic solutions to end
unfounded violence upon wolves.
READ MORE:
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Photo: Dan Stahler / National Parks Service
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