gray wolves are off the endangered species list

wolfies

I think that a natural balance of nature is all to the good. Ranchers in the west see a threat to their flocks and herds.

This is not a black and white world.

I think it may be too early and the population still too low. They are on the rebound but the population figures I am reading seem strangely low to be removing them from the list.

1500???? i mean realy fifteen hundred!

thats insane. i could kill the entire population withoiut reloading. j/k but almost :X

The benchmark for delisting was supposed to be ten breeding pairs in each state - Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Then it became fifteen breeding pairs. Currently, there are admittedly over eight hundred in Idaho, and that only counts the known packs. The reality is that there are well over a thousand, and probably more than fifteen hundred. The direct impact to our ranching industry is now more than a quarter of a million dollars annually in unreimbursed losses to stockmen, and the wolves are proliferating at a conservative rate of ten percent per year. The bottom line is that these critters (who, by the way, are not native to Idaho) are an experiment gone horribly awry and out of control. Nonetheless, I am fully convinced that Earthjustice or some other preservationist group will file for and receive an injunction before the comment period ends on March 28, and the listing will continue. At that point, things will dramatically escalate, and I'm not yet sure exactly what position I will take as a local elected official. I can certainly tell you that those of us who have had to deal with the wolves for the past thirteen years have had enough bad experiences to last a lifetime.

Worse that coyotes around a flock of sheep, Cowdoc?

Hey, be kind to your wolves, we keep down the rabbit and rodent populations..........

Has anyone seen shewolf lately?

Has anyone seen Dlowan lately?

Roger, they're more efficient than coyotes, because they're so much bigger, averaging close to two hundred pounds. When they hit the elk herds, they're more like dogs in a flock of chickens killing for sport. I expect elk hunting to become a thing of the past in less than twenty years unless drastic action is taken soon. The real question is - what do the wolves do when the elk are gone?

I love wildlife , BUT. As an owner of a moderate sized (East Coast standards) herd of sheep (250 ewes) , Ive suffered through attacks by domestic dog packs wherein all the dogs who attacked my herd were licensed.

Im not at all pleased with the "unreimbursed" nature of this program. It denies the real costs of maintaining artificial populations of wolves and other destructive beasts. "Balance of NAture" is hardly whats happening.

wolves are my favorite animals, anyone else think they are just breathtaking?

coyotes too, they come into the outskirts of las vegas sometimes in the rich areas, i like to hang out with them when possible, they are really amazing.

not hang out, more like "hang around" them. that makes me sound like a werewolf or something O_o

yeah i could rant all day about dogs and cats and animals but im out of time for this post

Got a pack of about 20-30 that live all around me. Sometimes a bunch will overnight about 50 feet outside my bedroom window. They keep the rabbit and squirrel populations in check. I even catch a little glimpse of my bobcats and foxes from time to time.