USFWS Doesn’t Manage Wolves With Science

We wonder why there is such a clash between residents, local government and federal government over wolves and how to manage them. I stumbled across this article this morning in the Headwaters News. It is an attempt to convince readers that wolves have little if any affect on elk.

As with most wolf advocate stories this one first tries to convince readers that those wishing wolves would go away, do so because of our fear of the “big bad wolf” - a childhood thing I guess. It also tells how wolves selectively cull out the sick and dying elk making for bigger and better elk. What the article does not address is the indirect impact that wolves have on elk as a result of stress. The writer says elk are better off because they run and hide making them “act more wild”, whatever that means.

We just learned on Tuesday, the writer must have missed that class, that in areas where wolves are present, it directly reduces cow-calf ratios, meaning the longterm affect is a reduction in elk population.

One of the reasons why the USFWS has refused all the years to actually address the issue of delisting the wolf and letting the states handle it, is shown quite clearly in a statement made by Ed Bangs, wolf guy with the USFWS.

The wolf controversy “isn’t about wolves or predators,” says Bangs. “This is about human values and what people think they want. People want to reduce elk density by shooting elk, not by having wolves. It’s a social and philosophical question. How much hunter success is enough? How much do you share with mountain lions and grizzly bears and wolves? The questions aren’t really biological.” For now, at least, we can’t target wolves as the primary elk killers. Blame that old standby, the weather, and Montana hunting policy for baring the bigger teeth.

To me, that pretty much says it all. Let’s toss facts and science out the window. Let’s have a class on human interaction, sing Kumbaya and get in touch with our inner beings to see how we “feel” about wolves.

Tom Remington

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