Wolf Advocates

 

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Isle Royal Wolf Population has been studies for the past 50 years to better understand what drives population structure.  They used aerial counts, analysis of scat, and necropsies to analyze population dynamics.  The most notable finding of this long term study was that wolf populations do not follow the typical predator-prey interactions that other predators’ exhibit, meaning that the sustainable co-habitation of wolves and prey species are able to exist.  Organizations have used this science in their argument regarding protection of the gray wolf to support their claims.       

Organizations such as the Defenders of Wildlife have sought injections to reinstate the Endangered Species Act and halt the planned hunt.  They are supporting the Isle Royal study and are saying that the wolf can persist in the ecosystem without interfering with the populations of ungulate species.  They also claim that some science is still uncertain to what a stable wolf population is so taking the gray wolf off the Endangered Species list could negate the progress that has been made.  Environmentalist support restoring and protecting wolves in their native habitats for its ecological importance.  Without the wolf species, the populations of ungulate species have increase and lead to the overgrazing of hardwoods or woody plants.  This changes the entire structure and sustainability of the ecosystem, so the wolf could help maintain this by preying on the ungulate species. 

Conservation Groups along with many citizens outside the local view the wolf as a majestic and wild creature symbolic of American’s wilderness.  They also see the wolf as beneficial to the ecosystem but also look at the cultural importance of the wolf.  The wolf can produce an economic benefit such as ecotourism for the areas that the wolf is restored in.  Also that the wolf was exterminated from its native land and the fear of this happening again is a major concern.