Interesting how one gentleman phrased this issue around the notion of how those who have nothing to lose are the ones pushing for the preservation of the wolf.
I guess he wouldn’t have considered that the wolf has everything to lose, but no voice in the matter. It is those folks who seemingly dismisses who give the wolf a voice.
What everyone seems to be skipping over in the equation is wolves are not herd animals. Wolves are pack animals. And you cannot cull a wolf from a pack the way you can cull a deer from a herd. Wolves have life long mates and defined family units. Deer change mates every year and do not operate as family units. If you take a deer out of the herd, the herd continues to function, minus one deer. If you take a wolf out of the family pack, especially the alpha male or alpha female, you just crippled and endangered the whole pack — both as a hunting unit and as a unit capable of reproducing and sustaining wolf populations.
You also just put easier prey, like sheep, at risk. Younger wolves without a solid pack to help take down larger prey like elk and without older wolves to show them how will be dependent on easier domestic prey to stay alive. Creating a vicious circle. Kill the older stronger guiding wolves who are the backbone of the pack, create younger weaker less knowledgeable wolves who can only stay alive by preying on domestic animals.
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Interesting how one gentleman phrased this issue around the notion of how those who have nothing to lose are the ones pushing for the preservation of the wolf.
I guess he wouldn’t have considered that the wolf has everything to lose, but no voice in the matter. It is those folks who seemingly dismisses who give the wolf a voice.
What everyone seems to be skipping over in the equation is wolves are not herd animals. Wolves are pack animals. And you cannot cull a wolf from a pack the way you can cull a deer from a herd. Wolves have life long mates and defined family units. Deer change mates every year and do not operate as family units. If you take a deer out of the herd, the herd continues to function, minus one deer. If you take a wolf out of the family pack, especially the alpha male or alpha female, you just crippled and endangered the whole pack — both as a hunting unit and as a unit capable of reproducing and sustaining wolf populations.
You also just put easier prey, like sheep, at risk. Younger wolves without a solid pack to help take down larger prey like elk and without older wolves to show them how will be dependent on easier domestic prey to stay alive. Creating a vicious circle. Kill the older stronger guiding wolves who are the backbone of the pack, create younger weaker less knowledgeable wolves who can only stay alive by preying on domestic animals.