WOLVES: Here we go again

Special interest groups are refusing to share their hunting grounds and grazing allotments with natural predators; even in publicly owned National Forests. Days ago, the Idaho Wolf Hunt spread from private land in the Panhandle to include the entire state again. Wolves will be shot with rifles and bows, and will be suffering in barbaric, painful traps for up to three days at a time this winter. Of 379 wolves killed in the 2011/2012 Idaho hunt, 40 of them were puppies, 56 suffered in leghold traps before being killed, and 67 choked to death in snares.

Wolves are an essential part of a healthy forest ecosystem. They are apex predators that cannot be replaced by man or even other predators. They have a unique role to play and need a proportional populace to function effectively.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game intends to reduce our wolf population to 150 to “balance their numbers in relation to other wildlife.” But what is balanced about just 150 wolves versus countless deer, 103,000 elk, 10,000 black bears and thousands of cougars?

Top predators have their populations controlled, naturally, by their food source and territory availability. There is no evidence to suggest that wolf hunting is required at all and yet the hunt continues despite extensive scientific opinion against it.

Mahatma Gandhi stated, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” If this is the case, the citizens of Idaho have a moral dilemma.

ANN SYDOW

Athol