In response to Gary Busch's letter last Wednesday, where he states that "Idaho has a disproportionately high number of wolves with way more than any other state in the country," I would like to remind him that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources states that while they have established a minimum population of 1,600 wolves, they have over 3,000 wolves in their state and do not plan public hunting or trapping seasons on wolves for at least five years.
Mr. Busch obviously really doesn't know very much about wolves. They don't eat every day; in fact, they sometimes go for many days without food. Wolves also feed on road kills, and the thousands of deer and elk that hunters wound but never retrieve. In addition, hunters kill over 22,000 elk annually and some 47,000 deer. That's a lot of gut piles for wolves and other predators to feast upon, and they do. And Mr. Busch fails to mention that Idaho elk numbers are meeting or exceeding Idaho Department of Fish and Game goals in all but three units in Idaho. One of those units doesn't have any wolves, and the other two have habitat issues. According to Fish and Game at the Jerome wolf meeting in December, black bears, not wolves, are the main predators on baby elk calves.
I am so tired of the minority of wolf opponents using fear-mongering tactics and lies to make up for their lack of numbers, to push through their own selfish and flawed personal agendas.
Gloria Carlton
Hailey
