I grew up in Montana and have camped and hunted most of Western Montana and along Hwy 12 in Idaho. We were always taught the dangers of other animals when hunting etcâŠso I pretty much was aware of how the circle of life was in the mountains. Growing up we used to go out âscoutingâ for elk or deer whatever we were going to hunt that hunting season. We would follow their paths and see when and where they were migrating to. We also would keep count how many males, females and babies were in the herds. My family used to visit Yellowstone National Park as well and my uncle used to work there so we would see all of the animals and herd numbers there too. It was not uncommon at all to see herds of elk ranging from 75-100 head. It was so amazing to see. This brings me to my post, some say that the large herds were due to an overpopulation of Yellowstone Elk. This was supposedly due to there was little to no existence of the grey wolf to control the population.
  In 1987 the Recovery Plan, which was just a revised Plan from the US Fish and Wildlife services from 1980, was put into effect to reintroduce the grey wolf to the US. Congress passed the bill to reintroduce the grey wolf to three states: Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The strategy was to nurture a new population that had emigrated from Canada into northwest Montana and to reintroduce wolves to central Idaho and Yellowstone. The goal was 30 breeding pairs across the region and approved management plans from the three states. In 1995 and 1996, and only in Yellowstone in 1997, 76 wolves from Alberta, British Columbia, and northwest Montana were released into central Idaho and Yellowstone: 41 in Yellowstone (14 from Alberta, 17 from British Columbia, 10 from northwest Montana), and 35 in central Idaho. The West's new wolf era was underway. Some said this was the most significant wildlife conservation event of the 20th century for the United States. Now if you havenât ever seen a Canadian wolf please google the size different between an American and a Canadian wolf. The size difference is ridiculous. The Canadian Grey Wolf runs in packs of up to 20 wolves. For every animal they kill to eat, these wolves kill about three more just for the fun of it. The biologists call it âsport-reflex killingâ or âlustful killingâ. These are the federal wolves, as it was the federal government who introduced them into Idaho over itsâ residents strong objections.
It took about 6-10 years to see a change in wolf populations. There were three outbreaks of Canine Distemper Virus, in 1999, 2005 and 2008, that killed a lot of the wolves. The wolves began to flourish due to the overabundance of a food source due to the large herds of elk, deer and bison. In Yellowstone the highest number in elk population was from the years 1985 â 1995, after that their population declined.
I no longer live in the beautiful state of Montana but I visit every summer. Itâs sad to see the mountains and rivers I remember foraging through to see wildlife have completely changed. Gone are most of the wildlife that used to be so abundant and run through the mountains. The wolves have completely dominated the ecosystem. The elk numbers have dwindled to hardly anything now. My uncle still lives in Montana and has had a herd of elk come there and feed and have their calves in a safe secure place. Recently, he sent me a picture of the herd. It was a picture of the herd of elk down in his yard, there were only 7 there. They were all cow elk and no calves at all. He stated that the numbers have steadily decreased from 75 to 24 to 13 and now down to 7. He stated just 5 years ago the herd was up to 75. The reintroduction has caused great damage to the ecosystem. Some of the elk herds have even changed their traditional migratory path to another to avoid wolves. This just needs to be brought to light.
The sad thing is though, I understand the wolves are just doing what they are instinctually are programmed to do, but the government reintroduced them into an area that they were not originally from so they adapted. So who really is to blame? Animal or Man?
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