The Necessity of Legalizing Wolf Hunting in Wisconsin Essay

Wolves lived in the park for forty years, with claimed increasing nuisance to outsiders. The people around Yellowstone were complaining that the wolves, basically a nuisance to society, were killing animal. Thus after discussions and studies, congress agreed and the wolf extermination began. In 1914, the "Yellowstone wolf extirpation campaign began after congress appropriated funds for 'destroying wolves, prairie dogs, and other animals injurious to agriculture and animal husbandry' on public lands" (defenders). The killing of wolves continued until 1926 when the last two wolf pups of some 136 wolves were killed on a poisoned bison carcass (defenders). The eradication of wolves by hunting and other means soon cleared out most wolves in all areas of the United States. "By the 1940's humans had eliminated red and gray wolves from almost all of their historic range in the contiguous 48 states" (Noecker).

During 70 years of absence from the Rockies, the Grey Wolf had been protected under the Endangered Species Act that was passed in 1973. Since the wolf is under the protection of Endangered Species Act a person could be punished with up to a $100,000 fine and up to 1 year in jail for killing a wolf. Back in the

While highly controversial, the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone Park has provided many beneficial ecological changes to the entire parks ecosystem. After a nearly 70 year absence, in January of 1995, 14 wolves from separate packs were captured in the Canadian Rockies and transported to Yellowstone National Park in the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho (Sanders par. 2).

In “Scared to Death” by Ed Yong and Sharon Levy’s “Wolf Family Values,” we read about the need to protect the population of wolves in North America. These two articles have very different ways to go about this. Ed Yong talks about the wolf effects on elk as well as the rest of the environment. Levy’s approach is about wolf social structure and how it is impacted by hunting. Both of these make some valid points on why more conservation efforts should be made; however, I believe Ed Yong made the stronger case.

Montana. Wolves can be a positive member in the ecosystem as Rick Bass pleads this case in

A month later, State Sen. Tom Casperson, introduced a bill to grant the Natural Resources Commission the authority to designate animals as game species without legislative approval. That bill cleared the Legislature and was signed into law in May 2013 as Public Act 21. It basically circumvented the wolf hunt opposition's initiative by putting in place a law that that could pave the way for another wolf hunt even if voters overturned Public Act 520. As a result, hunts were held in November and December in three areas of the Upper Peninsula. Twenty-two wolves were killed.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service are considering removing the gray wolf from the endangered species list once Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have enough wolves to be deemed sufficient to continue to expand the wolf population, requiring only that each of these three states have a management plan in effect to prevent the gray wolf from becoming endangered again. With the current attitude of the governments in these states, the wolf should not lose their federal support under the Endangered Species Act as it would merely serve to cause the wolves to become endangered once again, or at best, held to the absolute minimum population that the states can pass off as “viable, self-sustaining populations”

The Mexican wolf is the southernmost subspecies of gray wolf in North America, its natural habitat was that of the southwest United States and Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona as their home range in the US. Mexican wolves typically feed on deer and elk. (Rinkevich, Murphy, & Barrett, 2011). The gray wolves were a menace to rancher’s cattle and farmer’s livestock. Depredation of livestock led ranchers and state governments to declare war on the Mexican gray wolves through public and private bounties. The Mexican gray wolves were successfully removed from the wild. (Foreman, 2004) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was vital for the protection of the Mexican gray wolf. (Larkin, Noss, & Maehr, 2001) In 1990, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service coordinated and developed a Mexican wolf reintroduction recovery plan to establish a wild population of no less than 100 Mexican Gray wolves in March

California's gray wolf was hunted in the 1920s by settlers who killed them off in order to protect stock raising and use their coats. In 1924, California's gray wolf population went extinct and in 1973, the species was listed as endangered. However, even though there were no wolves known to be in California, last year the authorities added

These were all key factors to their near extinction. In 1974 the wolves were placed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but were not protected for long. Many environmentalist agreed with this act because environmentalist knew how crucial this keystone specie was to the ecosystem. Without the grey wolves existence, the whole rest of the ecosystem would not function properly. Unfortunately, around the 1960s, the gray wolf population was basically extinct, which resulted in a huge controversy. Luckily, “In 1995, the first 14 wolves were introduced to the Yellowstone National Park to increase the wolf population”(Transplanted) that had been decreasing gradually. Over the years more Canadian wolves were introduced to the Yellowstone National park to increase the wolf population. This procedure was successful because the wolf population throughout the Yellowstone region was on the rise. The long term goal for the environmentalists and Yellowstone park rangers would be to have around 1,000 wolves roaming the region.

Policy desired because Gray Wolves were almost extinct in the early 1900s and wanted a way to bring them back into Yellowstone National Park

Though wolves are one of the most researched and studied canines of the animal kingdom, many people are still cautious of the wolf and its behavior and is considered a safety threat to people in many urban and suburban areas. Recorded eradication of wolves can be dated back to the 1700’s hunted purely for their furs, though the complete eradication of wolves begins in late 1800’s after western settlement began to expand to Colorado, threatening valuable livestock. In defense, hunters and trappers supplied themselves

The wolf was once a much slandered animal. In the western world, people feared and hated wolves, and this legacy is reflected in stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. In these popular children's tales the wolf is made out to be a prowler and a killer of livestock and people. There is some basis for The Boy Who Cried Wolf, for wolves have killed cattle and sheep. But what of Little Red Riding Hood? There are no records of wolves killing humans in Canada or the United States. Yet, when wolves were spotted near rural communities, fear used to grip the populace, but over time this has become less prevalent.

In Wisconsin, there was a wolf eradication policy put out by bounty (a government-financed killing) from 1865 until 1957, which wiped out many wolves leading to an altered ecosystem and depleted forest. Human behavior towards the wolves before this time was fearful because of their overtaking of land and food supplies (beef calves, hounds, and farmed deer), which is a particular reason that the bounty was placed by the government. The wolf eradication policy period placed the wolves on the Endangered Species Act, ESA. Federal restoration efforts by humans during the time period of 1980 until 2011 were set in place to help the wolves in recolonizing and to remove the wolves off of the ESA, which finally occurred in 2002. Recolonization was

People should not allow wolves to be hunted in Yellowstone. There are important reasons for keeping safe for these animals. These reasons include that many people will poach these animals, they are consistently killed in other parts of the state, and they deserve a safe place after being hunted almost to extinction. Therefore, these animals should not be hunted.