Wolves brought life back to Yellowstone when they were reintroduced in 1995. Their reintroduction to the national park brought down the population of deer, which had a surplus during the wolves’ hiatus of seventeen years. As the population of deer balanced out other animals population increased as a rippling effect. Eagles, beavers, mice, fish, foxes, bunnies, bears, otters, hawks, weasels, badgers, and many more populations grew in number once the wolves back in their home – Yellowstone.
Once the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service ended their endangered species protection for the wolves many of the ranchers in neighboring states, like Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming took the lives of more than one third of the wolf population. Even in protected federal land where the wolves should be free to roam without worrying about being hunted, they are still being killed by hunters and ranchers. Hunters have already exterminated more than a third of the 1,600 wolves that were thought to live in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho in 2012. The grey wolves provide the quintessential life in Yellowstone National Park.
We know the consequences of not having the wolves in the park already so let us not fall back into our mistakes once more. Ranchers can look up alternative resources to help scare off wolves from their cattle. Help get the wolves protected by encouraging the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service to get involved and protect them once more.
