Free Republic

What began nearly 20 years ago as denial of the many bad things that would happen in the Greater Yellowstone area if gray wolves were brought in from Canada, continues to this day. It was predicted that the wolves would kill off their prey base and that is happening. Information was presented to Ed Bangs, USFWS head of wolf reintroduction that wolves carry more than 30 different infectious diseases, some harmful and/or deadly to humans, and that was ignored. Disease is now becoming a common occurrence across the Northern Rockies where wolves are prolific. The same deaf, dumb and blind...

There are now at least 1,300 wolves prowling Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, far more than anyone imagined when the species was reintroduced in the Northern Rockies 12 years ago. The wolf population has, on average, grown by about 26 percent a year for the past decade. The latest estimates, which summarize counts completed at the end of 2006, show they aren't slowing down. "I keep thinking we're at the top end of the bubble," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "I can't see that there's room for any more, but we'll see." As...