Jim Beers on Wolves

"So 4 wolves killed 85 sheep in central Idaho in one weekend. But they only kill the sick ones. They only "balance" Mother Nature. They don't kill for "sport." It is "important" that they be reintroduced back to where a wiser generation eradicated them. They "don't" reduce game populations. They aren't "dangerous" to people. And so the Defenders of Wildlife and their US Fish & Wildlife partners tuck us all into bed.
They are on the verge of spreading like wildfire across the country. Between all the protection and unoccupied (by large canid competitors) habitat, and an ability to morph and adapt even greater than their more solitary coyote cousins they will spread like ink on a pain of glass. They WILL reduce deer, elk, moose, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, domestic dogs, horses, sheep, calves (and an occasional cow), and yes they will be a danger to unaccompanied children and older people under certain circumstances. They will learn to come into mall garbage sites for food scraps in the evening. They will follow deer into housing areas in the winter and be a hazard to dogs and schoolchildren. They (like the increasingly unmanaged and no-longer-harassed bears and cougars) will grow bolder around people and eventually attack adult joggers on trails or old folks walking their dog. And all the while the newspapers and TV folks will swallow and regurgitate the pap served up by the animal rights cults that wolves; like sharks, cougars, and bears “don't do that.” That people are "in their habitat." That the savaged person "behaved" incorrectly. That their habitat should be "saved" and people and homes and roads removed. That they have important “functions” in the ecosystem. Like the turkeys that were once claimed to “need” virgin forests or the Canada geese that were once said to be able to breed only in far northern marshes, the wolves will prove just how ignorant we are about their capabilities and “needs.”
The latest sleeping pill about what is happening is that places outside current “critical habitats” can manage the arriving wolves without Federal control (at this time.) Ah yes, like including “local governments” in planning committees we are assuaged. We are calmed by the “fact” that although 5 or 6 western states are having a lot of trouble it won’t be like that for “us.” As Bugs Bunny used to whisper, “sucker!” ".....

You can see all of the Jim Beers essays here