[ProtectOurFreedom]

Interesting USDA survey report. It sure doesn't jibe what I hear from ranchers and hunters in north Idaho. The elk herds have been decimated by wolves (probably close to true decimation - reduction by 90%).

Wolves in the West: Wolf management in Idaho

I tend to not trust government reports as they are generally pro-environmentalist and anti-rancher / anti-business.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

FReeper george76 just posted this...

Idaho wolf livestock depredations hit another record (supporting what I wrote).

[Mariner]

There is certainly a higher loss to wolves in the mountain west, and Mountain Lion too.

But that’s 1/3 of the US herd at best. The stats are watered down by the other 2/3 that never see anything bigger than a Coyote or wild/feral dog.

And still, even those little bastards get their share.

Ranchers abutting wilderness and grazing on BLM land in the west probably suffer triple the predation compared to any other area of the country.

Big cats being the primary killer.

The axiom is: Those who graze their herds in west are going to lose healthy animals to predators. And killing all the predators has enormous negative effect on the ecosystem. They are like the garbage collector, a nasty necessity.