This issue came up on another forum. It fascinates me for a number of reasons, not least of which is that I find wolves to be one of the most amazing creatures in the world. there is no other animal in North America that embodies the true wilderness spirit better than the wolf. So, I naturally gratvitate towards the environmentalist view in favor of reintroduction. This argument was made in the Audubon Society recently:
Wolves eat ungulates like elk and deer, reducing their numbers. The mere existence of wolves in the same ecosystem also creates what biologists call an “ecology of fear,” so ungulates spend less time eating in one place. As a result, trees and shrubs come back and there’s more biodiversity. In Yellowstone, researchers saw that open fields became more vegetated when they reintroduced wolves. Wolves also increase biodiversity by providing food for scavengers and influencing the way that coyotes behave.
The benefits aren’t limited to the environment. “Wolves in Yellowstone National Park increased visitation and ecotourism spending by $35 million in 2005,” Licht and his four co-authors write in the paper. Having the predators in the park could make visitors more appreciative of the wild environs and give them a thrill when they hear a howl or see another wolf sign.
However, like everything the Government does, this program is a total cluster-fuck. It has enraged land owners and cattle owners, and in typical government fashion, it has been handled in a way so as to create a totally polorizing environment where there is no middle ground.
It is not an issue that will be solved anytime soon, but I just wanted to post up that there are huge benefits and pitfalls to both sides. And while I hate the Government and its mismanaged intervention in almost every case, I hate people who ride around in helicopters shooting wolves more.............
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