There IS a Wolf at the Door #3

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is considered to be the most successful conservation model in the world. With the near extinction of many American species by the mid-1800's (i.e. the Bison), hunter-conservation groups like the Boone & Crockett Club began to advocate game management and regulation. There are two major principles to the American Model; fish and wildlife are for the non-commercial use of citizens and will be managed to remain at optimum levels forever.

And this is the rub. At the Wolf Symposium held 12 May in Albany, Oregon there were more than 250 concerned citizens. Their concerns were varied but mainly concerned with the lack of management of restored wolf population in Western America. As noted some parties agreeing to initial numbers of wolves required to meet ESA have not been honest. Environmentalist (preservationist) groups keep litigating for more and more wolves. The USFWS protects the wolves but does little else. The initially agreed upon required numbers of wolves have long been surpassed in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. The result of the huge numbers of unmanaged wolves now roaming the West has been devastation of healthy elk and deer herds.

David Allen, President of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation offered the following;
the Lolo Pass elk herd is down 80% of population prior to wolf introduction. The North Yellowstone elk herd was 20,000 strong prior to wolf introduction. It now stands at 4,000. The Bitter Root elk herd has lost 80% of its population. My wife and I have witnessed the changes in the Yellowstone wildlife over the 'wolf' years. This year we saw no calf elk in herds, no coyotes, no moose and only one deer. And those kinds of problems exist outside of Wyoming and Idaho.

This IS a lot of information on one issue. But the issue is BIG. Dr. Val Geist, the leading ungulate biologist in North America had this to say. Wolves kill animals and people by infection, too. Wolves pass cysts of Echinococcus granulosis, a predatory tapeworm through their feces to the ground, thus into grazing animals wherein it enters the lungs and organs and passes on to others that come in contact. Cattle, elk, deer, people and other animals are susceptible. You see that wolves may be killing wildlife, livestock and perhaps people without even attacking them. He says the Disney concept of the wolf denies the honest historical background and why they were eradicated. Wolves still take people as witnessed by a fatal attack on a human last year in Alaska.

In my next and last wolf blog I will offer up some professional solutions for the wolf problem.