Much has been made of reintroducing timber wolves to their former historical range. Such plans are sentimental favorites with some environmentalists who advocate extermination of non-native species and a return to the biological diversity that existed before man's interference.
On the surface, such plans sound logical but if one truly wants to eradicate non-native animals, getting rid of pheasants (an import from China) may prove less than popular. And trying to wipe out starling and European house sparrow populations is literally impossible.
Still, there is something romantic about the timber wolf. That is, unless you are a rancher in the mountain west or northern prairie regions. Or if you tend to like strong populations of deer, caribou, elk and moose.
Well, now you can add some pet owners to the list of those who may be ambivalent at best concerning the burgeoning wolf populations across the United States. And parents concerned about the safety of their families may soon be part of a group that does not see wolves as the poster-boy of environmental progress.
Last Nov. 8 in northern Saskatchewan, a 22-year man was found dead, the result of an apparent wolf attack according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. While that would be the first documented killing of a human by wolves in North America in modern times, non-lethal attacks are more prevalent. And pets and livestock have long been under siege.
This past spring, two Idaho men who train hunting hounds had an experience that cost them the lives of two of their dogs, and might've cost them their own were it not for the efforts of one brave hound.
In late May, these men released eight dogs from the road where bear sign was fresh. Using radio collars, they ascertained that the pack of eight split into two groups. Three hounds quickly treed a mature sow and a two-year old black bear cub near the road.
The trainers took a few photos and then returned the dogs to the truck to follow the other five that had apparently treed a bear about a mile and a half away, near a campground. When the men pulled up 400 yards away, they could hear their dogs and could tell they still had a bear treed.
For the layman, hound dogs make a variety of sounds and their handlers quickly learn to recognize the language, whether they are on the chase, or have an animal bayed, and even individual dog's voices.
The men decided to cut the distance with their rig in half before departing to get their dogs and determine what they'd accomplished on the training run. When they cut the engine, there was silence. Then they heard barks that were not their own, followed by a bark they recognized followed by a sharp yelp.
They ran down the hill and right into a macabre scene where wolves were killing their dogs. Remarkably, the wolves did not cut off the attack as the men approached, and when Scott Richards of Grangeville swung a big stick at a black wolf and hit a tree, the wolf lunged for him.
"I remember thinking I was going to die,” Richards told the Idaho Press-Tribune.
As the man retreated on the run for his vehicle and a gun, he noted, "I did not see what took place, but what I heard was my dog giving up his life to save me.”
In the end, the two men were able to save three of these dogs, one of which required extraordinary measures by veterinarians. The other two were killed brutally, and then eaten in the time it took the men to take the injured animal to the vet and return the following morning.
Richards' main worry is that wolves may be losing their innate fear and turning to domestic animals as they have decimated the hoofed wild animals in much of their range. This puts livestock and pets in harm's way, as well as those humans in close proximity.
While wolves do not have a history of human attacks like grizzly bears and mountain lions, they do have a documented penchant for killing animals they do not eat. In one incident, five wolves in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska killed all 20 Dall sheep rams that were caught on a snow-covered plateau. The wolves only partially ate six. A conservation officer once followed the trail of two wolves that killed 21 deer in just two days, consuming only parts of two. Counting pregnant females, the loss was 36 deer.
Bears and cougars, as solitary animals, do not have the pack attack mentality nor the thrill killing mechanism that wolves do.
Thus, the reintroduction to wild areas (such as Yellowstone for the grizzly) has not had a deleterious effect on ungulate populations like caribou, elk and moose. Wolves on the other hand, have the potential to wipe out what has taken sound game conservation decades to achieve: strong populations of the deer species in the wilderness areas.
It may be time to rethink whether we want the wolf to be a part of our wilderness. A great deal of information on the topic is available from the at the Abundant Wildlife Society of North America
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References:.ftrib
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