Friday, January 25, 2008

Clear thinking and biology should drive wolf management


One unusual thing about the Idaho Wolf Population Management Plan is that there is no mention of Minnesota.

Why should anyone care? Because more research has been done on wolves in Minnesota than anywhere in the world.

The debate over wolf management has raged hot in Idaho only since wolves were reintroduced in 1995 and 1996. Minnesota has studied wolves much longer.

Unlike Idaho, wolves never disappeared from that state, although in the 1950s numbers sank to less than 750.

Minnesota has assembled data and a management plan that Idahoans should pay at least as much attention to as they do to "Little Red Riding Hood" or to those whose imaginations would have wolves lie down with lambs.

Minnesota's 3,020 wolves were removed from the federal Endangered Species List on March 12, 2007. That number contrasts sharply with the estimated 673 wolves now in Idaho that have generated widespread debate and concern.

Other contrasts are worth noting, too.

While professional and armchair biologists in Idaho are still debating the effects of wolves on big game, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources concluded that high wolf populations do not depress deer populations.

The states also differ in the floors set for wolf populations. Minnesota set a minimum of 1,600 animals, while Idaho's floor of 15 breeding pairs would mean a minimum of 60 to 150 animals, depending on how "breeding pairs" are defined.

The difference between Idaho's planned minimum population and the number of wolves now in the state has alarmed some wolf proponents who envision some kind of mass slaughter about to take place when wolves are delisted.

They, too, need to look at the Minnesota research that found that every year fully 35 percent of adult wolves die from starvation and inter-pack strife in which wolves kill other wolves. That may be slaughter, but it's nature's own population control.

While Minnesota decided not to open wolves to hunting or trapping for at least five years to ensure their survival, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter is itching to have the first shot at a wolf just off the Endangered Species List.

This is not to say that Minnesota will not use lethal means to control wolves that prey on livestock, threaten pets, or get too close to populated areas for comfort. It will—even during the five-year no-hunting period. Between 1993-1999 alone, Minnesota killed an average of 153 problem wolves each year.

Idahoans need to think clearly and calmly about wolves and their future relationship with them. For this, we need not only our experience but also that of people with experience greater than our own. Biology, not ideology, should drive wolf management.




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