My wife posted an article with the title:
'Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have decided to eradicate wolves'
When I was a kid, wolves were my favorite. I got big non-fiction books from the library about ecology and wildlife before I could even read them, because they were about wolves. I ran around the house pretending to be a wolf so much that my mother was never without a supply of denim patches for my knees. I had to learn more. Especially because the piece that was linked seemed a little biased and maybe I was missing something.
I found this, which also reads a little alarmist but linked me to the actual bills that have been introduced introduced to the US House and Senate. I was disappointed to see MN legislators as co-authors on both bills; Reps Tom Emmer and Richard Nolan, and Sen Amy Klobuchar. I'll put their contact information below.
I found this article from the Center for Biological Diversity which gives a helpful summary of some of the legal battles over wolf management since protections began in the 1960s. Basically, as wolf populations have rebounded (which they have certainly done with protections in place), some have decided that the wolves no longer need protection. I'm guessing this is based on loud complaints from ranchers and farmers in the few areas where wolves can predate livestock, but also by conservatives looking to cut budgets and regulation, and probably also by underlying psychological hangups people might have about wolves. In any case, the fact is that wolves used to live over basically the entire United States, and the fact that there exist small areas with healthy wolf populations does NOT mean we should stop mandating scientifically-directed management. The key thing is that scientists who know wildlife management from an ecological perspective need to make conservation decisions, not lawmakers.
In this sentence, I refuse the temptation to go off on a tangent about badass park rangers in the last couple days.
However, it gets so much cooler - I learned about trophic cascades (Wikipedia), where re-introduction of a predator (the top trophic level) has rippling effects down through the rest of the ecosystem. This link from Yellowstone Park has a fantastic video about what happened there after wolves were re-introduced. WATCH IT! The amount of change they saw in the ecosystem of the park was amazing. I took ecology classes in college, and even spent a semester in a biodiversity and conservation program, and I would not have imagined the extent to which the ecosystem benefited from the re-introduction of wolves.
I can't believe you're still with me. Stop reading this and call to tell your reps and senators that these bills are irresponsible and need to be eliminated. The bottom line is that ecological and conservation science needs to drive wildlife management decisions.
The MN cosponsors are here, but the bills have been introduced, so contact your reps and senators where-ever you live!
Rep Tom Emmer - (202) 225-2331
Rep Richard Nolan - (202) 225-6211
Sen Amy Klobuchar - (202) 224-3244
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