Wolves: Oh No They Didn't!

[cereus]

Yellowstone Wolf Pack Exterminated:

The adults of the Cottonwood Wolf Pack in Yellowstone were killed earlier this week as well as other adult wolves.  Pups were not killed, but they WILL NOT survive without adults.  Starvation is what they face now...

Thirteen years ago, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone on a trial basis.

The elk population was booming and elk were eating everything and then starving.

Since then the Aspens and willows that were almost gone have come back.  Why?  Because the elk were eating saplings before they could grow up.  The wolves caused the elk to be always on the lookout, ready for flight, and so they spent less time in the copses munching on aspen and willow.

With willow came beaver.  Which were extinct.  So now we have beaver, beaver ponds, fishes, and songbirds singing in the willows that were not there before.

Also ravens, magpies and foxes are doing better because of wolves leaving elk carcasses around.

And there were minimal or no livestock deprededations.

WE WERE DOIN IT RIGHT goddamit.

More
Information

Information from Defenders of Wildlife

All of you from the US:  Please sign the petition.
Thank You.

Comments

No, no, no, no!

[mpshiel.livejournal.com]

This sucks so much. Nature is interdependant, they learned that in California when bringing back the kelp beds brought back the tuna and other fish, and the otters, what is extinct can be brought back. As the Canadian studies have shown, wolves do not kill animals (with the exception of bachalor wolves) unless they are sick in some way - elk and caribou examined all had either bone disease, blood disease, or other invisable diseases. There is a program set up to compensate a farmer or rancher for wildstock (though the amount claimed for these wolves would need to teleport and eat five times their body mass each day) - it is a 'sure sale' for the rancher so a win-win and as you point out, now the bark is not being eaten, and a new eco-system is present.

How many times will they need to import wolves to figure out that killing everything larger than a breadbox isn't the brightest idea?

Sorry I got so passionate.

Re: No, no, no, no!

[cereus-sphinx.livejournal.com]

No apology necessary, thank you for being passionate. We need all the passionate people we can get.

One species can make a huge difference in an ecosystem. It can be extremely exciting to watch. It also is one of the easiest ways of making a big difference. For instance, imagine trying to plant all those trees by hand.

One of the cool things that has been happening recently is hawks have been moving into the city again. The pigeons that had previously been breeding and congregating in enormous flocks now have a predator again. But as part of that, more and more electrical poles have had to be shock-proofed. But shock-proofing is really a pretty minor renovation.