The Hunt for Rocky Mountain Wolves

Posted by Dawn M. Smith Aug 19, 2008

The recent temporary injunction restoring gray wolves to endangered status shows that concerns that an uncontrolled hunt would allow wolf haters to slaughter animals under the guise of management were justified.

Now, delisting is usually a good thing. It means the population of a species is in good shape, there is enough habitat to support its continued growth and, in many cases, controlled hunting goes back on the agenda.

Please understand, I’m not anti-hunting. Humane hunters do a great deal for wildlife conservation. Ducks Unlimited has done plenty to provide habitat for threatened game species and changed the way rice fields are managed so that water rather than fire (with the attendant air pollution) is used to get rid of the stubble.

In New England, where I grew up I witnessed what happened when deer hunting season was closed-lots of starving and sick females and fawns, not a pretty way to die. A returned to a controlled hunt changed that for the better.

But when it comes to wolves, they’re not a food species. They are predators, and that brings out the worst in some people. Management plans for wolves must take this attitude into account.

Unlike duck and deer hunters, who want a healthy population so they can continue hunting, many of those hunting wolves just want them gone from the planet.

Unless a better management plan is on the table, one that recognizes the antipathy that some people have toward the wolf and puts safeguards for the species in place, the wolf should not come off the endangered species list any time soon.