Great - The endangered gray wolf is off the endangered species list - thanks Department of the Interior! The good news here is the the gray wolf population in the American Rockies has grown by leaps and bounds in the decade or so since scientists began the effort to reintroduce them to the continental United states. The 66 original wolves reintroduced to Montana and Idaho have grown to a population of 1300 individuals, and a couple hundred more have wandered down from Canada, unscathed thanks to the increased protections afforded them.

 But is that enough? 

 

This is a really stunning success story in the conservation world, where reintroduction efforts are almost entirely experimental and conducted as last-ditch plans when there are no other options left. The truth is, when reintroducing a species, you have no idea how it will fare under the current conditions that may have changed since it left, or whether the foreign animals you’ve brought in (from Canada, in this case) will actually be able to thrive in the new area. You might not think Canada and Montana are THAT different, but regional populations evolve particularly to that region and smaller differences have undermined a whole species before) An apex predator (top of the food chain) requires a healthy ecosystem with a very delicate balance of factors to succeed, so that makes it even more impressive that the wolves have done so well.

 

So what’s the bad news? Well, they’re being unlisted of course. The fact that the population has recovered is great, but it’s really only half of the equation: the other half is the pressures still put upon them. While the gray wolf may be doing well now, the forces that eradicated them have not changed. Shepherds and ranchers in Montana lobbied against the reintroduction of the wolf, and for the right to kill a wolf on their property ever since. These ranchers have not left, and still maintain their right to kill a wolf that comes on their property or harms their livestock - these same ranchers have been killing bison that wander out of Yellowstone Park for years.

 

Concerned citizens and environmentalists have organized livestock compensation programs in Montana for any livestock that are killed by grizzly bears, and are attempting to do the same for wolves in an effort to remove the threat that is posed by ranchers. However, these plans are not in place across the wolf’s range, and are not being dealt with enough at the government level. If the Department of the Interior wants to delist the wolf so badly, they need to buck up the money to recompense farmers’ whose livelihoods are damaged by the wolves, or they’ll just start killing the wolves again.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/us/22wolves.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 

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