The Wolf Wars
"Whatever the reasons, humans are at war with wolves. It is an ancient dispute over territory and food between their clans and ours, and its battleground spreads across the northern Rocky Mountain states" -National Geograhic Wolf Wars |
Recently the gray wolf has been taken off the Endangered species protection list. This has sparked rage for some and happiness for others. Many scientists in efforts to preserve the wolf have turned to Leopold as a guide for their arguments. Leopold would not the support the FWS plan to delist the wolf.
Many people, like Aldo Leopold in his early days, were eager to shoot a wolf. Why wouldn't they, society encouraged it. Growing up kids read folk tales with the villains being wolves like in Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs. They also heard stories of vicious wolves massacring cattle and destroying the local economy. And worst of all they killed sheep and other game animals which made hunting even more difficult. |
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"In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the pack. When our rifles were empty, the old wolf was down, and a pup was dragging a leg into impassable slide-rocks. We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view."
It wasn't until Leopold shot "the old wolf with the green fire in her eyes" that he realized the shooting wolves was not what the "mountain wanted." What Leopold observed is scientifically proven today: Wolves actually have a positive role in the ecosystem.
It wasn't until Leopold shot "the old wolf with the green fire in her eyes" that he realized the shooting wolves was not what the "mountain wanted." What Leopold observed is scientifically proven today: Wolves actually have a positive role in the ecosystem.
"Wolves play a key role in keeping ecosystems healthy. They help keep deer and elk populations in check, which can benefit many other plant and animal species. The carcasses of their prey also help to redistribute nutrients and provide food for other wildlife species, like grizzly bears and scavengers. Scientists are just beginning to fully understand the positive ripple effects that wolves have on ecosystems." -Defenders of Wildlife
In 1995 and 1996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured wolves in Canada and released them into 2.2-million-acre Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho's wilderness areas. Scientists diligently studies the ecosystem before and after the wolf reintroduction and concluded that wolves had a positive impact on Yellowstone National Park.
The wolf population grew and the conflict escalated.
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"During 2008, wildlife agents confirmed 569 cattle and sheep deaths from wolves throughout the West. That amounted to less than one percent of livestock deaths in the region." |
"On May 5, 2011, following the passage of a delisting rider attached to a budget bill by Congress, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reissued the 2009 delisting rule for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. The rule officially removes Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon and Washington, and the northeast corner of Utah."
Despite the fact that wolves bring in an estimated 35 million dollars a year to western states from tourism, they are treated like pests. Wolf extermination is occurring at an unprecedented rate and without laws protecting them, they will eventually be extinct.