Apex predators are in decline worldwide, yet they are needed to keep other species healthy and maintain the habitat that other species need for their survival.
According to Richard Coniff, (January, 2014), author of 'The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth' , "over the past few decades, scientists have turned up increasing evidence that losing top predators can cause entire ecosystems to collapse, with humans among the potential victims. The 1926 eradication of wolves from Yellowstone National Park, for instance, caused the elks on which they preyed to proliferate, turning the park into a glorified ranch, nibbled down to dirt in many places. The loss of wolves changed not just the look of the land but the quality of streams and the ability of other species to survive there. Biologists refer to those knock-on effects as “a trophic cascade.
But since reintroduction of the wolves in 1995, Ripple’s research has shown that elk numbers and behavior have changed, aspen and willow have grown back on the banks of creeks, birds and amphibians have returned, and even fish have benefited from the ponds created by beavers."
Killing the wolves in Idaho is a disastrous decision, not just for the wolves, but to all the ecosystems they benefit. Stopping the cull is the wise thing to do. It is the right thing to do.
We call upon you to call your hired gun out of the River of No Return Wilderness and stop the senseless killing of wolves in Idaho. The research is clear: wolves benefit ecosystems and contribute to the health of trees, watersystems, mammal, fish, amphibian and bird populations. The scientific research shows that culling wolves is a mistake. We know from the history of Yellowstone that culling the wolves undermined the natural ecosystems of the park and altered the behaviour of park animals, causing elk to over-graze and other species to spiral into decline, and deteriorating the quality of creeks and water systems. We know all of that dramatically improved with the reintorduction of wolf populations. ONly bad science would suggest that delisting wolves as endangered and reducing their numbers in the wild is a good idea. In 1995 and 1996, Canada was asked to capture and send 66 grey wolves to the US states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho where ranchers had eradicated them, because it was recognized that wolves are needed to maintain the ecosystem. Now Idaho is about to repeat the same mistake that was made a century ago. Stop the cull. Stop your hired gun.
