[sergeantdave]

This is why scientists recommended a gradual re-introduction of the wolf, so the matter could be studied.

Regardless of what people think of wolf re-introduction there are consequences. Consider -

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources told the federal government that the state could maybe handle 100 to 150 wolves. So, naturally, the number is now in excess of 300 and there’s trouble in Dairyland with no solution in sight.

Milwaukee Journal reporter Dan Egan wrote that farmers are finding “calves with their hindquarters shredded, still alive and trying to suckle. They have stumbled upon a pregnant cow ripped open and her fetus torn out. They have seen calves with crushed throats - dead without losing a drop of blood. Killed, they believe, simply for the thrill.”

Children can’t walk in the woods alone and adults must carry weapons.

Beef cattle ranchers raising stock in northwestern Wisconsin say wolf raids cost them 92 calves last year. They expect more this year when the tally is taken.

These farmers are cussing mad. They, as their ranching compatriots out west, believe they and their livelihood have been targeted by eco-extremists and their allies.

The Wisconsin DNR, the farmers and hunters all agree the packs should be culled. But the Washington DC legislators fiddle in Rome, chase interns and refuse to manage the timber wolf.

The result? Last year the Wisconsin DNR buried 15 wolves, culled by shoot, shovel and shut-up.

Upper Michigan is believed to carry the same number of wolves as Wisconsin. Last year six grey wolves were shot in the UP.

The killing goes on in spite of shooters facing a $100,000 fine and six months in jail for culling an endangered wolf.

“It’s way beyond time” to begin killing problem wolves in Wisconsin, said David Mech in the Milwaukee Journal story. Mech is a senior research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey and one of the world’s foremost authorities on North America’s wolves.

Mech fears that if the wolves aren’t delisted and managed, the public backlash could grow. “I worry,” said Mech.

[ko_kyi]

I am sure things are tough for the cattle, but the Milwaukee reporter was trying to create empathy for the cows. That said, cattle herds with castrated, de-horned bulls are mostly defenseless against wolves. I can see how a predator in full wild predator fashion could wreak havoc among what are essentially walking burgers and the ususal predator/prey arms race might not apply.

Unless there is a REALLY good reason to have the Feds manage wildlife policy, it seems to me that it should be done at the state level.

[Rebelbase]

There was a thread here a while back that speculated about the excessive wolf population being a predicted result upon re-introduction and was permitted to happen as a planned attack on the ranching community around the park by key environmental elitists.

[ridesthemiles]

The public backlash will grow. There will be a death of a young child out camping somewhere who gets momentarily separated from their group, and gets attacked. THEN and only then will the average yuppie who donates to all the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy type groups get a clue how dangerous these animals are.
The yuppies with the most money are moving further and further out into the rural fringes and they just can't understand what that coyote noise is at night and they can't understand why Fluffy the cat has disappeared within 6 months of moving into their $700,000+ home on a half acre in the foothills.
A fresh from the city new neighbor of mine about had heart failure when she saw my shotgun in plain view in the kitchen. I think she thought she had stumbled into a re-run of Deliverance!!!! Way too funny.