Our Perspective on this Decision

For the most part, wolves live on federal lands. It was a national effort to bring them back. Everyone can have a say about their future.

Wolves are intelligent, social, family animals, with the ability to express joy and sadness, and even compassion. Only a select few other species exhibit these same traits so clearly. It is for those traits that we do not hunt gorillas, elephants or dolphins. Why should it be different for wolves? They need to be protected. In the short time (14 years) that wolves have been reintroduced to the American West, they have restored stability to ecosystems. This has increased populations of countless species from birds of prey to pronghorn antelope to even trout and cottonwood trees.

Wolves prey upon the weak and diseased, thus allowing the stronger animals to reproduce and perpetuate their own species. By pushing elk out of their usual habitats, wolves keep herds from overgrazing. This is both good for the health of the elk and for the health of the land.

Now, instead of wolves being protected by the federal government, state governments will be managing wolves. It is Idaho and Montana's plan to authorize and license the killing of wolves in order to maintain elk populations at a high level.

It is only some hunters and outfitters, and a few ranchers, who wish to kill these animals. But it won’t

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