Humane Society of United States files gray wolf lawsuit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

[Drahthaardogs]

38. I spent the first 35 years of my life in wolf country

I lived in Alaska since I was 2. After that, I lived just south of Jackson Wyoming. In Alaska, wolves typically ate themselves out of house and home, then the ungulate population crashes, then the wolf population crashes, then it starts all over again. In the lower 48, that cannot happen, there is not enough room for new wolves to move in, etc.. Wolves must be managed or they will literally eat themselves out of house and home. Part of that management also means if they eat too many cows and sheep, the ranchers are going to demand their demise. They are powerful enough of a lobby out west to do it. Better to compromise and keep a small to medium, stable, man-fearing population.

I like wolves. I have been in the middle of a pack of them while they were howling. I have seen them move like ghosts across the tundra. There is something magical about them. The world without them is a sadder place. I also like grizzly bears and cannot imaging hiking, camping, or hunting without the possibility of a bear encounter. I like being in the woods knowing I am not the top predator.

I trust the FWS to do a good job. There are passionate biologists and ecologists working for them. HSUS has too many lawyers and too many activists for my tastes. They do what they do, but I do not want them making policy.