Wolf Control: Understanding the Controversy
Wolf control is an issue marred with controversy due to the involvement of various parties; government agencies, the public, the media, hunters, scientists, farmers, and non-governmental organizations whose ideas and points of view regarding this issue may greatly differ. Wolves occupied large territories of America before the settlement of European immigrants wiped out the wolf population from the lower 48 states (Olson et al. p.358). The wolf population was widely persecuted until the 1960s when environmental awareness gained momentum among the American public who then saw the need to re-establish the wolves’ position within the ecosystem. The subsequent enactment of the 1973 ESA (endangered species act) in which the gray wolf was listed gave it more protection and its population increased exponentially over the years spreading through the wilderness, semi-wilderness and agricultural lands (Bergstrom p.3). Nevertheless, farmers saw them as a pest that preyed on their livestock while hunters saw them as a competition game meat and sport hunters saw this as an opportunity to press for licensed wolf control.
The Need for Proper Management
Gray wolves reproduce at a tremendous pace and easily colonize large areas within short periods, meaning that it is possible to reduce their population to a given number per region, and still recover effectively to the optimum population with time. This argument has been used to try and reduce the wolves’ pressure on ungulates especially during their calving periods leading to the increment of harvest for hunters. The idea of depredation of farmlands now come into play to help protect farmers from loss of livestock and reduce the unavoidable wildlife-human conflict (Olson et al., p.352). Animal control policies should act within the confines of nature. It is crucial to address how and when it is to be done while putting into place mechanisms to provide guidance to avoid illegal hunting and irreversible effects on the ecosystem. There is need to bring all stakeholders on board to come up with practical solutions and deviate from turning these policies into a political battleground for those for and against wolf population regulation.
Works Cited
Bergstrom, Bradley J. "Carnivore Conservation: Shifting the Paradigm from Control to Coexistence." Journal of Mammalogy 98.1 (2017): 1-6.
Olson, Erik R., et al. "Pendulum Swings in Wolf Management Led to Conflict, Illegal Kills, and a Legislated Wolf Hunt." Conservation Letters 8.5 (2015): 351-360.
