The Winter of Our Discontent: To Wolf or Not to Wolf, That is the Question

 

Wolves. Everyone has an opinion.

In my home state of Wyoming, wolves have been a controversy since my great-grandfather was a trapper there. Yellowstone Park was created in 1872. My great-grandpa earned his money by trapping beaver, mink, and wolves, and selling the pelts. He spent his winters in the area around Yellowstone. Then, in the 1880s, Mormon families officially settled in one of the valleys south of the Park, so he married and settled there, too. My dad told me that his grandpa tried farming, but ended up selling his land, moving the family to town, and went back out in the mountains to resume his trapper life.

When the farmers and ranchers established settlements in the area around Yellowstone, wolves became a problem for them. After all, what would be easier prey: elk with those big antlers, or chubby cattle, with no horns? So, the government put a bounty on wolves, and by the late 1920s, the wolf packs were gone. Individual animals were sighted for the next four decades, but the big packs were no longer a threat. But, it isn’t always possible to predict what else will be affected when one thing changes.

Once the wolf packs no longer threatened the elk herds there was a big increase in the elk population in Yellowstone and the surrounding wilderness areas. This resulted in a near-complete depletion of the willows and aspens that grew along the streams in the valleys, which also left the beaver population without dam building materials. The beaver population diminished, leaving the streams free to rush downstream with no ponds to adjust the flow. Fewer willows and aspens also contributed to the erosion and damaged the riparian/aquatic ecosystems.

So, pressure to reintroduce the wolves began to mount. Ultimately, the pro-wolf arguments won out, so in the 1990s, these animals were back in Yellowstone. There are now many wolf sightings, but also, there has been a noticeable reduction in the elk population. The elk moved away from the streams, back in the thick timber, as one way of avoiding the wolves. And they broke up into smaller groups as a way to lessen the attraction of the predators. However, as the wolves increase in number, the elk population is definitely decreasing.

In those areas where wolves were reintroduced, the elk count has dropped by a range of 30-80% (in Idaho and Wyoming). The wolf population is now dramatically over the percentage that was intended when the restoration was begun. Some areas allow wolf hunting. Idaho actually put out a limited hunting season with a bounty for wolves. Farmers and ranchers make their case against the higher wolf population. The preservation people push back against those who want to control the wolves’ growth.

If you really want to get an argument going, just pick a side, and start talking! There are heated opinions everywhere. I don’t live there anymore, so I don’t have a stake in the game. I’ve seen some photos on Facebook that give me pause.

This is an aerial shot of a wolf pack chasing down some elk–which is nature doing its thing, I know.

This is a Montana family’s quarter horse that wolves killed in its pasture on their ranch.

These are fifteen cow elk killed apparently for fun by a wolf pack in Wyoming.

They weren’t eaten, they were just killed in a big meadow. (Yes, humans lined them up for the photo.)

So, questions? Opinions? What do you think about the wolf/elk/rancher controversy? It is inevitable that when humans get involved, that nature is going to be affected. But, what solutions would you propose? Here are some websites of those with varying opinions that you could read. It won’t clear things up, I promise!

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  1. Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw Member
    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw
    @MattBalzer

    WI Con (View Comment):

    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw (View Comment):

    Cow Girl:

    These are fifteen cow elk killed apparently for fun by a wolf pack in Wyoming.

    They weren’t eaten, they were just killed in a big meadow. (Yes, humans lined them up for the photo.)

    I’m rather surprised at that, I wouldn’t that wolves would kill something and not eat it, unless the elk population is just that high.

    There were similar problems in Wisconsin when they reintroduced wolves there, either in the late 90s or early 2000s if I remember right. Originally there was a fine for shooting them but a coworker of one of my parents owned hogs and was planning on shooting to kill if they got too close. I haven’t heard what the current situation is, though I think the wolves are still there.

    The WI wolf population is thriving! The original projections of the wolf population were to have been around 800. Current populations estimates are between 2,000 and 3,000. The diminishing deer hunting numbers are being blamed on the wolves. With actual numbers of hunters also decreasing, I’m thinking the wolves actually help. As long as there is a fair and easy way for farmers and ranchers to recoup any losses due to wolves – I lean towards the ‘I’m OK with it’ camp.

    I am in favor of anything that keeps the deer population low.

     

    • #31
  2. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    WI Con (View Comment):

    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw (View Comment):

    Cow Girl:

    These are fifteen cow elk killed apparently for fun by a wolf pack in Wyoming.

    They weren’t eaten, they were just killed in a big meadow. (Yes, humans lined them up for the photo.)

    I’m rather surprised at that, I wouldn’t that wolves would kill something and not eat it, unless the elk population is just that high.

    There were similar problems in Wisconsin when they reintroduced wolves there, either in the late 90s or early 2000s if I remember right. Originally there was a fine for shooting them but a coworker of one of my parents owned hogs and was planning on shooting to kill if they got too close. I haven’t heard what the current situation is, though I think the wolves are still there.

    The WI wolf population is thriving! The original projections of the wolf population were to have been around 800. Current populations estimates are between 2,000 and 3,000. The diminishing deer hunting numbers are being blamed on the wolves. With actual numbers of hunters also decreasing, I’m thinking the wolves actually help. As long as there is a fair and easy way for farmers and ranchers to recoup any losses due to wolves – I lean towards the ‘I’m OK with it’ camp.

    How do you compensate someone for the loss of a beloved pet? Like the quarter horse pictured?

    We have people lose small dogs and cats to bobcats regularly (east central Colorado Springs, away from the foothills). Coyotes have been known to attack medium-to-large sized dogs (usually a dispute over females in heat). Mountain lions tend to only be a concern in the foothills and mountains) I’m not advocating for the extermination of bobcats, coyotes, and mountain lions, but I don’t believe we need to add another predator to the mix. It’s a non-problem looking for a busybody solution. With all the Californian refugees who’ve moved here in recent years, I fully expect the initiative to pass, good and hard.

    I do understand there are problems associated with having too many Californians living in Colorado but I have concerns about the legitimacy of any policy that involves importing an apex predator to eat them.

    Hahaha…. I hadn’t considered. . . I may have to rethink my objection.

    Are wolves attracted to the scent of patchouli? Two birds, one stone?

    • #32
  3. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    This is sentimentalism. The wolf was a part of nature here. It hasn’t been for a about a century. Should alligators roam freely on golf courses in Florida? Maybe you want to invite the Great Whites to cruise your swimming beaches on Cape Cod? 

     

    As far as I know, national boundaries don’t have my effect on wild animals. The wolves in Canada are the same species of wolves that were wiped out in this country. They brought back to Yellowstone to reestablish the natural balance that once existed when wolves roamed there before. Extermination of alpha predators in any environment has a cascading effect on the ecology of that area. I haven’t read of any attacks by wolves on humans in the park or outside its boundaries. Those who choose to go into the wilderness, who really want a wilderness experience shouldn’t expect it to be sanitized of large predators or for those predators to be in cages. It is, after all, wilderness. 

    I spent a lot of time diving in John Pennekamp reef park off of Key Largo. I guided groups of trained tourists to the park, and we swam with Pelagic White Tip sharks on a regular basis, not to mention the occasional large barracuda. I always carried a bang stick just in case, but never needed it. We were visitors in their environment, just as we are swimming in the ocean at Cape Cod. When I was a graduate student at University of Miami in the mid to late 1960s I often saw gators in the lake adjacent to Student Union building. The large number of gators is due to many years during which the hunting and killing of alligators was banned. A reasonable amount of culling isn’t inappropriate. Hunting to extinction which was done to a large extent to the wolf is.

    • #33
  4. Slow on the uptake Coolidge
    Slow on the uptake
    @Chuckles

    philo (View Comment):

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment): We don’t have wolves that I know of in the Pacific Northwest, but we have coyotes in abundance. A local pack runs through my pasture periodically yipping and yapping. …

    I also cannot resist passing on semi-relevant notes from my library, especially ones that involve two of my favorite topics (Canines and U.S. Grant) and that also my provide useful lessons concerning other current events. This one form The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant:

    …On the evening of the first day out from Goliad we heard the most unearthly howling of wolves, directly in our front. The prairie grass was tall and we could not see the beasts, but the sound indicated that they were near. To my ear it appeared that there must have been enough of them to devour our party, horses and all, at a single meal. The part of Ohio that I hailed from was not thickly settled, but wolves had been driven out long before I left. Benjamin was from Indiana, still less populated, where the wolf yet roamed over the prairies. He understood the nature of the animal and the capacity of a few to make believe there was an unlimited number of them. He kept on towards the noise, unmoved. … [Benjamin asked]: “Grant, how many wolves do you think there are in that pack?” Knowing where he was from, and suspecting that he thought I would overestimate the number, I determined to show my acquaintance with the animal by putting the estimate below what possibly could be correct, and answered: “Oh, about twenty,” very indifferently. He smiled and rode on. In a minute we were close upon them, and before they saw us. There were just two of them. Seated upon their haunches, with their mouths close together, they had made all the noise we had been hearing for the past ten minutes. I have often thought of this incident since when I have heard the noise of a few disappointed politicians who had deserted their associates. There are always more of them before they are counted. – Pages 49-50

     

    Fascinating.  I knew that Lee had been in Texas (My historian uncle Rister wrote a book, “Robert E Lee in Texas”) but had quite forgotten, if I ever knew, that Grant had been in Texas as well.  Now I shall have to research what in the world he was doing around Goliad.

    • #34
  5. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):
    Hunting to extinction which was done to a large extent to the wolf is.

    Yeah, but it’s done. And since then, the human population density in places like Colorado has increased dramatically. The wolves of Yellowstone don’t recognize park boundaries either. They’re inhabiting areas well outside the designated “wilderness” now that their populations have exploded. Does Wyoming allow culling? I can pretty much guarantee Colorado won’t. 

    • #35
  6. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    According to a book I read recently, wolves leaving the park boundaries are often shot legally by local ranchers. As to Colorado, I suspect that the populations of Denver and Boulder are a greater threat to the state than a few wild wolves.

    • #36
  7. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    Should alligators roam freely on golf courses in Florida?

    That’s a good question. I suppose there are some negatives to go with the positives.   

    • #37
  8. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):

    According to a book I read recently, wolves leaving the park boundaries are often shot legally by local ranchers. As to Colorado, I suspect that the populations of Denver and Boulder are a greater threat to the state than a few wild wolves.

    If the wolf community had better access to legal marijuana they probably wouldn’t be so aggressive. 

    • #38
  9. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Thanks to @cowgirl for the great post! This bridges perfectly into February’s theme. This conversation is part of our Group Writing Series under the January 2020 Group Writing Theme: Winter of Our Discontent. Thanks to all who made January brighter with their contributions!

    February’s theme is “Advice:” our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.

    Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.

    • #39
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