Grey Wolves in America essays

Grey Wolves in America essays The wolves of North America have had a difficult time over the last several centuries. Starting from an estimated high of 400,000 when European Americans started settling on North American shores, wolf populations dropped to around 60,000 in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In the lower 48 states, the picture has been much weaker as bounty programs and government- financed trappers effectively removed wolves from all but two states. Today the range of the gray wolf has been reduced to parts of the United States such as Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The illegal killing of wolves has become a leading threat to their survival. Another serious problem is human movement into wolf territory, which leads to habitat loss for wolves. I do not think that it is right that the Grey Wolves were killed off in such a fashion by the ranchers and federal agents. The wolves were just doing what they needed to do for them to survive. Society has given the Grey Wolf a negative reputation that it doesnt deserve in the sense that the wolves are made out to look like the bad guys because everyone is worried about the wolves eating their livestock. If people have to be overly worried on that subject then they should keep their livestock in a safe place so that the wolves would not be able to get at them. There are many different pros and cons that justify this wolf situation. One pro would be that the wolves killing other animals are a natural process and thats how they survive. To kill them off and to not try and refill the population for that reason would be wrong. One con would be that the fewer wolves there are in an ecosystem then the more the food chain in that ecosystem would be balanced. So if people killed or did not replace the wolves then the wolves would not then be able to eat an abundance of other smaller species and possibly even kill them off. Another ...