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By Sena BalbachThe Grey Wolf is easily one of the most politically polarizing animals in the United States. Ever since Europeans began settling North America there has been conflict between wolves and humans. Today farmers and ranchers want the wolf populations managed because of the potential risk they pose to their livestock, but environmentalists argue the importance of wolves in their ecosystems. There are many misconceptions surrounding wolves that drive human support for the wolf hunt. I will address these misconceptions and outline several reasons why hunting Grey Wolves in the United States should remain illegal. Population numbers are only just recovering and not healthy enough to support a wolf hunt, and as an apex predator wolves are an important part of the ecosystems they’re a part of. Additionally wolves pose nearly no threat to humans life and there is little evidence that supports the killing of wolves to decrease predation on livestock. The range of the Grey Wolf (Canis Lupus) used to extend across most of North America from Mexico to the farthest north points of Canada and it’s estimated that there used to be up to 500,000 Grey Wolves in the United States. Today there are between 13,380 and 16,880 wolves in only 11 states in the U.S. Wolf-Human conflict in the United States began when European settlers began colonizing farther and farther west, bringing their livestock with them. The more land settlers colonized the more they began to see wolves preying on their livestock. People quickly began to view wolves as a threat to their livelihood and so began the large scale decimation of wolves. The species was hunted in the lower 48 of the United States until only a few hundred wolves left in Minnesota. Then in 1974 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed Grey Wolves under the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and populations began to recover. In 2012 wolves were stripped of their protections in several states and the management of wolf populations became the responsibility of each individual state. Nearly immediately wolf hunting/trapping seasons were established. Then only two years later wolves in Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan were placed back under the protection of the ESA. It has been shown that when a hunting season is put in place immediately after wolves are removed from ESA protection that populations decline quickly and after only a few seasons the species winds up back under ESA protection. The goal of many state wolf population management policies is killing at the same rate as reproduction to maintain a certain number of wolves. Though there is research from Montana State University that demonstrates that “wolf populations declined with harvests substantially lower than the thresholds identified in current state and federal policies”. So just because wolf populations are successful enough to be removed from ESA protections doesn’t mean they are healthy enough to have a hunting season. Another common misconception about wolves is that they will kill all the large game in an area such as deer and elk. Predator-prey populations keep each other in check; a perfect example of this is the isolated ecosystem of Isle Royale where wolves and moose have been coexisting for over half a century. Keeping prey numbers in check can also help the overall health of an ecosystem. Wolves were killed off in Yellowstone National Park in the early 1900s and without their main predator elk populations grew and their browsing behavior changed, causing elk to over browse on certain plants like aspen and willow, which in turn decreased the health of other species and the ecosystem overall. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and changed the browsing behavior of the elk again, keeping them on the move. Aspen and willow stands recovered and so did the other animal populations that suffered while the wolves were absent. Ecosystems are infinitely complex and removing even one component can be detrimental to the health of the entire system. The most common myth about wolves is that people should fear them. Wolves are often portrayed in popular media as vicious blood-thirsty animals that hunt and kill without discrepancy. This fear, paired with most people being uneducated about wolves and their behavior is one reason why many people support the wolf hunt. Since at least 1900 there have been a total of two deaths caused by wild heathy wolves.That means that while in wolf country you have a higher chance of being struck by lightning than being injured by a wolf. Attacks on humans by wolves can oftentimes be attributed to rabies or provocation, but aggression shown by healthy unprovoked wolves does happen. Most of these attacks though were by wolves that became fearless and desensitized to humans.The saying that “they are more afraid of you than you are of them” holds true for most wolves. This fear of humans is good for wolves as well as for humans. According to the International Wolf Center “When wolves are less fearful of humans they are more likely to approach humans or human-built structures, such as homes or roadways, in search of food”. But there are ways to make sure wolves keep their distance and don’t become comfortable around humans. The easiest way is to never feed wolves. Don’t leave any sort of food (pet food included) outdoors and never feed a wolf from a vehicle or building. Another way is to never let a wolf get too close to you, scare it off by making yourself look larger and make loud noises. Another support for hunting wolves is to decrease livestock depredation, but killing wolves to save livestock is actually counterproductive according to one study. It was found that when a wolf was killed the chances of cattle getting killed the following year rose 5-6%and with each additional wolf killed the chance of wolves attacking livestock rose further. Livestock losses only showed decline once over 25% of wolves in the state were killed, but then at that point wolf populations can’t keep up and are put back under protections of the ESA.This shows that the practice of killing wolves to save livestock is ineffective and actually produces the opposite of the desired outcome. Wolves are mysterious and misunderstood by many people which causes a lot of misconceptions to arise about the species. I provided evidence that refutes the claims that wolf populations are healthy enough for a hunting season, that wolves are damaging for prey populations, and that wolves are dangerous to humans and their livestock. Killing wolves at times is necessary whether it’s because the wolf is sick or because it has become habituated to humans. Though the majority of evidence indicates that as a routine practice killing wolves is detrimental the health of wolf populations, ecosystems, and livestock. References Cornwall, W. (2014). Why Killing Wolves Might Not Save Livestock. Retrieved from Link Creel, S., & Rotella, J. J. (2010). Meta-Analysis of Relationships between Human Offtake, Total Mortality and Population Dynamics of Gray Wolves (Canis lupus). Retrieved from Link Hoffman, A., & White, A. (2017). History of Wild Wolves. Retrieved from Link International Wolf Center. (2003). Are Wolves Dangerous to Humans. Retrieved from Link International Wolf Center. (2003 Too close for comfort: the problem of habituated wolves. Retrieved from Link Lamplugh, R. (2015). This Is The Number Of People Killed By 'Fearsome' Wolves. Retrieved from Link U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service. (2017). Gray Wolf (Canis lupus). Retrieved from Link Vucetich, J. A. (2018). About The Project: Overview. Retrieved from Link Wielgus, R. B., & Peebles, K. A. (2014). Effects of Wolf Mortality on Livestock Depredations. Retrieved from Link White, A. B. (2014). A History of Wild Wolves in the United States. Retrieved from Link (2011). Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem. Retrieved from Link Author BioSena Balbach is a junior at Minnesota State University, Mankato majoring in Pre-Veterinary Medicine. Animals have always been her passion and she has always surrounded herself with animals and nature. An avid camper, Sena spends her summers in the north woods of Minnesota and in the BWCAW with her best friend Milo; a seven year old yellow lab.
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