Click here to read about the victory for the wolves!
Just 15 years after the wolf was reintroduced to the state, Montana’s wildlife commissioners are poised to drastically increase the state’s wolf hunting quotas and reduce the state’s wolf population between 8 and 20%.
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This drastic increase in wolf hunting could roll back hard won national progress in bringing this species back from the brink of extinction and the fight to restore the wolf in the Northern Rockies is still far from over.
A greater level of wolf population connectivity between greater Yellowstone, central Idaho, and northwest Montana areas is still needed and is essential to the long-term survival of the Northern Rockies wolf population.
Born Free USA finds this proposal to be biologically reckless and we have made our voice heard.
In a official comments submitted on proposal we pointed out that simply counting individual animals doesn’t account for the fact that only a small proportion of adults (usually only the alpha pair in a pack) reproduce successfully. The number of reproductive adults is what counts when considering a population’s long-term viability.
There is no way to determine or control the killing of a breeding wolf or a wolf with dependant pups back at the den. Studies show that the death of a breeding wolf can decrease wolf reproduction by nearly half in the season after breeder loss.
Some segments of the hunting community claim that, if unchecked, wolves will cause declines in populations of deer and other favored “game” species, restricting hunters’ deer hunting opportunities. However, these claims are based on a simplistic portrayal of predator-prey dynamics; scientific data simply do not support these claims.
I know, I know, using logic, biology, and ethics isn’t likely to get very far with this audience. So we also appealed to their pocket book.
The 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the top 4 states attracting wildlife-watching tourists were Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, and Idaho. These four states have in common one thing of great interest to tourists: wolves.
According to a recent study, the roughly 151,000 people who visit Yellowstone National Park each year to see wolves bring in $35 million annually for local economies in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. And nearly four percent of Yellowstone National Park’s 2.8 million annual visitors say they would not have visited the nation’s oldest national park if wolves weren’t there.
Overwhelming majorities of Americans support efforts to protect and restore wolves and all taxpayers have paid dearly for it.
It’s just unfair and outrageous that with a single vote this heavily pro-hunting biased commission could roll back 15 years of progress in restoring this keystone species. We will all pay the price, especially the wolves.
Born Free USA won’t stop howling about it.