Having lived in Montana from before the wolves were introduced, I have some practical realities to point out. 1)Reintroduced is a misnomer. These are Canadian wolves, a larger species than the original in the area. That's a small distinction, but an accurate one. 2)In Montana, except in the Park (because man made that illegal), man had replaced wolves as a predator and man was carefully controlling the population of deer/etc. Nature has seen many extinctions over the years and it is not appropriate to view new balances that are reached as being "out of balance." Such thinking would require us to eliminate all modern creatures and restore the most ancient variety when taken to its logical conclusion. "Mother Nature" as it has been termed is always shifting. It would be good to acknowledge that man is part of nature, not outside of it. 3)It has been documented that wolf packs do, contrary to popular belief, kill for the sake of killing and leave the prey to rot. This may possibly fall under the category of training the young in hunting, but the result is that wolves do indeed kill what they do not eat. 4)I am well aware, from a source I will not name here, that the number of wolves present in the park and in Montana is suppressed/under-reported. This is done deliberately and has been done deliberately from the early years of the program. For years, this prevented the wolves from being made available for hunting/population control. 5)Compensating ranchers for their wolf kills comes from the state or private entities, not the federal government which controlled the introduction. This compensation does not cover the overall cost to the rancher as the wolves cause an overall loss amongst the herd sold each year in body weight.
