in praise of wolves

More good stuff from AG. Also in Michigan Isle Royale? Other wolf re-intros have met stiff opposition from cow (and maybe sheep) herders. Long ago I was allowed to visit a wolf pen in New Mexico. I think it's location may still be secret

 

You mean this place? http://www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/ Used to be called Candy Kitchen. Not so secret anymore. You meet some interesting characters out between a rock and a hard place (~1992?). Remember to fill up your tank, check the spare, and bring water.

Had L. David Mech's book The Wolf when I was younger. L. David Mech

 

The wolf reintroduction has changed places far beyond the Park too.

I grew up a couple hundred miles away, in a farming / ranching / logging / hunting community. Much game wildlife became scarce when the area was settled in the late 19th Century, but numerous species made gradual comebacks at various times throughout the 20th Century. Deer regained their population after the Depression. Elk, which reappeared in the 1960s but remained scarce while I lived there, finally boomed in the 1990s. Then the wolves returned this century, roughly halving the elk population and redistributing them from the deep back country towards the human-populated front country, where the wolves were less comfortable. Dad now sees plenty of elk in his fields and pastures part of the year, something I never saw in my time there.

Wolves are a very sensitive political topic back there. Dad has no problem as long as they take no more than one calf per year, so far they've taken only one confirmed calf since they reappeared at all. (The only confirmed 'coyote' kill in dad's entire life happened the same month.) But some other extended family members are less charitable. I've been excited to find fresh wolf tracks during several visits, including following the signs of an escalating wolf-moose chase. The moose survived that encounter, we saw it live the next day. But a game warden found were wolves feasted on a moose carcass nearby a month later. Moose remain scarce there.

 

www.whitewolfsanctuary.com/

Idaho suspends Wilderness Wolf-Killing Plan
White Wolf Sanctuary

Pet dogs and cats are wildlife killing machines but that fact never makes the news. Case in point, a local farmer shot and killed one of the dogs the were chasing deer and his live stock in his pasture. Turned out the dog was Monongalia Counties newest K-9. Handlers wife let it out in their yard to play several miles away from where it was shot. Local paper is behind a paywall but just try and Google this or similar incidents. You get nothing.

 

Cat's are man's adorable little serial killers. - How much do cats actually kill? [Infographic] - The Oatmeal

 

Last number I saw cats may kill 500,000,000 birds per year in the USA. No joke.
Wind turbines could be up there, but not as bad as cats.
But we're off topic....hmm error can't upload my Old Faithful pic

 

I believe The Oatmeal's 2 billion number is overestimated, since the Kitty Cam project only followed outdoor cats and the 84 million number of cats includes indoor only pets.

Another tidbit of info, four of the sixty cats followed by the project had a second family that they visited during the day.
A second phase of the project should have started which will follow feral cats on one of Georgia's barrier islands.
Kitty Cams UGA Home

 

I'm a coyote fan. After they have returned to one of the most densely populated counties in Florida, they following critter populations have shifted from excessive to reasonable:
1) Rabid raccoons - Gone (Prior to the coyotes, I've seen rabid raccoons in my back yard. Not something you want visiting your kids and pets.)
2) Mandarin ducks - Gone (These birds are ugly and generate huge piles of crap as their best function.) However, the native Egret, Ibis, and Herons are as common as ever. Those are gorgeous birds that visit my yard frequently.
3) Feral cats - Gone (Yet the creek otters still frolic unaffected by the coyotes)
4) Rabbits - Reduced. This allows all the native plants in our yard to actually grow. The amount of butterflies these plants attract is impressive. The monotonous grass formerly constituting the yard did not attract anything.