Hunting the Gray Wolf
Outside magazine has a good article discussing the newest controversy surrounding the Gray wolves. (Click Here for Article–opens in new window).
Gray wolves are being taken off the endangered species list and many in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are already preparing to reduce the population down to the federally mandated minimum of 100 animals per state.
Wyoming tried to pass a shoot-on-sight varmint rule for the gray wolves, the law was overruled by U.S. Fish and Game.
The animosity that nearly led to the extinction of the gray wolves began when the wolves developed a tasted for ranch-raised cattle. Among conservationists, there is an emotional mystique that surrounds the gray wolves.
In March, the state legislatures will have to struggle with the delicate balance of maintaining the wolf population and protection grazing animals (such as cattle, deer, and elk).
I heard an elk bugle for the first time while I was visiting Glacier National Park. When the wolf population grows too much, the elk will stop bugling because it would mean almost certain death. I want to be able to hear the elk bugle as well as hear the lonely howl of the wolf in the wild.
In the article linked above, the author points out that if the gray wolf can become a big game trophy animal, hunters will be the greatest proponent of the protection of the gray wolf.
The hunting of wilderness-dwelling gray wolves is probably the hardest concept for conservationists to stomach. And yet it’s the component of the states’ plans with the greatest potential to benefit the species in the long run. If the wolf can obtain the status of prized big-game trophy—and many think it can—it will have the most powerful ally of any animal in America: the hunter. As we’ve seen with elk and migratory waterfowl, having the support of high-caliber advocacy groups like Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is the most effective way, by far, to get adequate protection from government game managers.
Not only have advocacy groups gotten behind the protection of animals such as elk and waterfowl, but hunters also pay for the protection of these animals through hunting licenses, fees, tags, and stamps.
The same way a boater has interest in protecting the lake, a hunter has interest in protecting his hobby by protecting animals.
The question of how wolves should be managed must be answered by logic not just emotion. Wolf hunts should be allowed because wolves will drastically reduce the number of deer, elk and other grazing animals, but the wolf population should not be reduced to the point of non-sustainability.
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