The Realities Of Wolf Predation

I wished someone would answer my question of just exactly where is the scientific evidence that wolves kill of “sport” or for the enjoyment.. I realize this predator can and sometimes does kill in excess or excess as humans define excess but that, in itself, does not establish that this animal does so for “sport”. I also support the simple fact that a sensidble, realistic management plan must be established if we ever hope to have a livable relationship with this animal in the south 48. Just letting the population go unchecked is not going to work. However, every time I ask those who make such “kill for sport” claims to show me factual evidence, they leave me like I have the plague. I am not a bleeding heart animal rights nut but unless you can present factual, unbaised studies performed by qualified people, I must say I am skeptical of such claims.

If this charge that this animal kills for sport, please show me the proof. If such credible evidence exists, I will personally apologize for this skepticism to you.

Thanks

John – You could start at this website and do a search for wolves. Also do searches for Will Graves, Dr. Valerius Geist. You can find information and many links to resources that will back up the claim.

In the past couple of months I have written about the book, “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages” by Will N. Graves. He documents wolf activity in Russia through the ages and will relate many occasions in which wolves kill an unbelievable number of animals and then walk away. In one instance, two wolves entered a sheep pen and killed 99 sheep and then simply left. They never ate nor did they take anything with them. These were healthy wolves as you will discover if you research that rabid wolves act completely different and act alone.

There are also recorded incidence of wolves attacking and killing multiple wild ungulates and walking away. There are also records of wolves killing in what appears to be an education of their young. You may not consider that to be sport but it is fact.

I also recently wrote about historic records of wolves in two separate areas of Italy and of accounts here in the U.S. written by Teddy Roosevelt.

What most people are asking for is to manage the wolf in numbers that is best for the complete ecosystem, which includes deer, elk, moose, coyote, fox, etc. etc. Here in the West we have these malformed perceptions of what a wolf is and it is far from reality. We cannot expect to manage their numbers when we know not or are unwilling to accept what they are.

Proposals out there about offering hunts if and when the wolf is delisted are questionable at best as to whether they will work. You simply cannot “stalk” a wolf and expect any success in hunting. The idea of the hunt is population control.

Soon I will be writing about and sharing hunting methods that have been tried and tested over the years which should help us better understand. In Wolves in Russia, the author gives us a complete chapter on the many methods developed over the centuries of effective ways to manage wolf numbers. At a growth rate that sometimes can approach 30%, picking off one or two wolves a season will do very little.

If we do nothing and let disease take over, then we are irresponsibly putting humans at risk and in the 21st century that is foolishness.

There’s tons of information available but you have to look beyond what the U.S. is putting out. After all, we have had very little experience in dealing with wolves. Alaska has and look at the controversy they generate trying to save their moose and caribou.

Thanks for the reasonable request.