Wolves Were Never Needed
Cyson Orr
Madison High School
Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 to help regulate the deer, elk, and bison herds. Little did we know, they were going to do much more than just regulate them. The wolf population has rapidly grown and spread across the states, greatly affecting local, and afar ecosystems and the populations of our deer and elk herds. The reintroduction of this species was a big mistake, and i have numerous examples here to show you the positives, even though not many, and the negatives of having wolves, in our local economies.
Why were wolves even reintroduced into Yellowstone in the first place? One of the reasons that wolf lovers like to say they brought them back, is because …show more content…
Or do you think that it’s possible that they even sport hunt, and kill for fun? The answer is yes, they actually do sport hunt, all the time too. And by sport hunting, I mean that they hunt deer and elk, and they kill them for the fun of it. Then once the animal has passed away, they head to the next one to do it again, and they leave it all to waste, and don’t even eat any of it. Sure they will eat some of them because they have to to survive, but will they waste many? Yes they surely will, and this is what is most likely wipes out the numbers of deer and elk. Wolves will also do this to farmers livestock, and this can greatly affect the farmers income that supports his own family. An example of this would be last winter, a farmer in Mackay, Idaho, had a pack of wolves come through and kill one hundred and twenty-three of his sheep, and they didn’t eat a single one of them, not a single one out of one hundred and twenty-three! Thats insane and extremely harmful to that farmer and his family. So therefor wolves obviously don’t just hunt for food, they are like people and like to hunt for fun every now and then too. It all makes sense, because according to the population differences between two thousand fifteen and then in nineteen ninety-five, approximately eight hundred head of wolves have killed approximately fifteen thousand head of elk. That is a very large amount …show more content…
So far the government actually has let Idaho pursue and gun down certain amounts of wolves in certain areas out of a helicopter to help control the population. Recently they have been managing the Lolo Zone in Northern Idaho, home to the largest wolf pack in the Western United States. They have gunned down close to fifty wolves over the last several years in that area, mainly because there are so many wolves, and the elk herd is dwindling. The Lolo Zone is also supposed to be close to one million acres set aside with no roads, so it’s almost supposed to be like a wilderness area for the deer and elk. And with the wolf pack destroying the only elk herd in that area, the government allowed the Idaho Fish and Game to go in by helicopter and harvest a controlled amount of wolves. They successfully do this by putting tracking collars on wolves every year so that they can keep track, and study their patterns, and understand how they are living. This also helps the Fish and Game Offices know what elk herd they need to keep a close eye on, and make sure that the wolves don’t take out too many of them. The Fish and Game will also go in and harvest a specific amount of wolves in certain areas with low elk numbers, when not enough were taken during the hunting season by hunters. The only setback we have with this kind of management is people from other states, that know nothing about the
Cyson Orr
Madison High School
Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 to help regulate the deer, elk, and bison herds. Little did we know, they were going to do much more than just regulate them. The wolf population has rapidly grown and spread across the states, greatly affecting local, and afar ecosystems and the populations of our deer and elk herds. The reintroduction of this species was a big mistake, and i have numerous examples here to show you the positives, even though not many, and the negatives of having wolves, in our local economies.
Why were wolves even reintroduced into Yellowstone in the first place? One of the reasons that wolf lovers like to say they brought them back, is because …show more content…
Or do you think that it’s possible that they even sport hunt, and kill for fun? The answer is yes, they actually do sport hunt, all the time too. And by sport hunting, I mean that they hunt deer and elk, and they kill them for the fun of it. Then once the animal has passed away, they head to the next one to do it again, and they leave it all to waste, and don’t even eat any of it. Sure they will eat some of them because they have to to survive, but will they waste many? Yes they surely will, and this is what is most likely wipes out the numbers of deer and elk. Wolves will also do this to farmers livestock, and this can greatly affect the farmers income that supports his own family. An example of this would be last winter, a farmer in Mackay, Idaho, had a pack of wolves come through and kill one hundred and twenty-three of his sheep, and they didn’t eat a single one of them, not a single one out of one hundred and twenty-three! Thats insane and extremely harmful to that farmer and his family. So therefor wolves obviously don’t just hunt for food, they are like people and like to hunt for fun every now and then too. It all makes sense, because according to the population differences between two thousand fifteen and then in nineteen ninety-five, approximately eight hundred head of wolves have killed approximately fifteen thousand head of elk. That is a very large amount …show more content…
So far the government actually has let Idaho pursue and gun down certain amounts of wolves in certain areas out of a helicopter to help control the population. Recently they have been managing the Lolo Zone in Northern Idaho, home to the largest wolf pack in the Western United States. They have gunned down close to fifty wolves over the last several years in that area, mainly because there are so many wolves, and the elk herd is dwindling. The Lolo Zone is also supposed to be close to one million acres set aside with no roads, so it’s almost supposed to be like a wilderness area for the deer and elk. And with the wolf pack destroying the only elk herd in that area, the government allowed the Idaho Fish and Game to go in by helicopter and harvest a controlled amount of wolves. They successfully do this by putting tracking collars on wolves every year so that they can keep track, and study their patterns, and understand how they are living. This also helps the Fish and Game Offices know what elk herd they need to keep a close eye on, and make sure that the wolves don’t take out too many of them. The Fish and Game will also go in and harvest a specific amount of wolves in certain areas with low elk numbers, when not enough were taken during the hunting season by hunters. The only setback we have with this kind of management is people from other states, that know nothing about the