A scientifically sound and legally defensible plan is being developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota by the end of 2011. According to biologists, who are the known experts in the matter, the wolf population is now capable of surviving without federal protection.
Based on past practices, court battles will ensue courtesy of the anti-hunting anything crowd, so it’s important to engineer a plan with this in mind.
The population numbers appear to tell the story. For example, in Minnesota alone, the wolf population is approximately 4,000 – well over double the 1600 minimum level set by the Endangered Species Act requirements.
The anti hunters will never be happy unless all animals are perpetually protected and will never agree to any timetable of a successful campaign of completed protection.
An attorney for the national Center for Biological Diversity (left-wing loonies), indicated that wolves occupy only 5 percent of their original range in the lower 48 states, and the total population is not close to the 2 million wolves believed to have inhabited the continent. Assuming she’s correct, her statement cements the argument for control. Humans have pushed wildlife into smaller areas throughout the world and it’s this very fact that we, as good stewards of the environment, need to manage animal populations.
When it comes to deer, for example, the penalty for lack of management usually means more and more car/deer collisions, which for the most part, is a dollars game. However, if the wolf population continues on its present course, human lives will be at stake with inevitable encounters and loss of human life – and it doesn’t take a wildlife biologist to see the handwriting on the wall. In addition to that,it’s a habitat issue that cannot be ignored. It’s just plain reality.
