Pros And Cons Of Wolf Reintroduction

In the early 1900’s, the loss of habitat and extermination programs led to the gray wolf’s demise. Wolves have once roamed all over the country. They’ve been nearly hunted to extinction with only 50 wolves left in the wild when Yellowstone National Park was young. Hunters back then thought they were helping the deer and elk by killing the wolf, its main predator. They were wrong. A 30 year project to restore the wolf population was made, and the wolves made an amazing recovery. The wolves are now moving outside of Yellowstone and conservationists are looking to expand their range, however, many don’t agree with bringing the wolf back. But are wolves really a good thing? By the 1950’s, the wolf population in the lower 48 states had dropped from 2 million to just a few hundred. In 1987 the gray wolf was listed as an endangered species in …show more content…
The response rate fir the 4 groups was: FNC= 60%, northern deer hunters= 38%, southern deer hunters= 47%, and the NBFN= 44%, The average attitude scores for both naturalist groups were positive, while both hunter groups had negative attitude scores. This suggested naturalists had a more positive attitude toward wolves than hunters did. The willingness of reintroduction for both hunter groups had negative scores, whereas the naturalist groups were generally of “no opinion.” With the scores either showing against or no opinion on wolf reintroduction, all 4 groups had one thing in common, the average knowledge of wolves score was consistently low. One of the major questions that was used was the fear of wolves and if they would be afraid to go hiking in the wolves, knowing there are wolves roaming in the area. The hunters suggested no opinion and the naturalists would not be afraid more often than the hunters. But, the responses of northern deer hunters had a split between them with 48% stating they would be afraid, whike 49% stated they would not be