We need a new law!

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Source: "Salazar's Wolf Decision Upsets Administration Allies," Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post, March 14, 2009.

According to the referenced article, based on the analysis of scientists in the Fish and Wildlife Service wolves are to be removed from endangered species protection and subjected to regulated hunting in Idaho and Montana "because the states have pledged to maintain at least 500 and 400 wolves, respectively, in the short term, and the animals will be able to migrate and interbreed with thousands of gray wolves in Canada." It is estimated that there are now 1650 wolves living free in the Rockies.

While it seems unintuitive that 400 wolves in an area as large as Montana are enough to maintain a viable population of the species, I defer to the scientists. Moreover, I am glad to read that the Secretary of the Interior is seeking to follow the law and the factual findings of government scientists.

The experience in Yellowstone has indicated that wolves are a keystone species, and that the return of wolves to the park has resulted in changes in the populations of many other species of both animals and plants. I would very much doubt that 1650 wolves are enough to maintain the Rocky Mountain ecology in anything like its pre-Columbian richness. We need a law that protects ecosystems by maintaining adequate populations of their keystone species, not simply a law that protects the most endangered individual species.

In the case of wolves, there are very many Americans who love these animals and who want to know that they exist in significant numbers in the wild. I, like many others, would love some day to see a wild wolf in the Rockies. There should be a law that supports our interest. Clearly wolves will kill some livestock if they roam free in the wild, and clearly there should be some recompense for the owners of those animals that are killed while in leased grazing areas. A law that protects keystone species in adequate numbers should also protect the people who live in affected areas from losses due to the action of the protected animals.