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wolf predation on elk/moose

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RatherBeFishin

Great interview ! I agree 100%

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James01

 Bob Jamieson (the biologist being interviewed) says low population numbers are due to predators - he never answers the question about factors like the environment, environmental degradation, and disease. It is, as he rightly says, a complicated situation. He also brings up bears, not just wolves. 

 

Not sure where I am on this. I do think the previously cancelled bear hunt - and subsequently a lot of bears preying on calf moose - is a big reason for low moose numbers now. It only makes sense... bears eat a lot of calf moose, so if there are a lot of bears (which I think there are) there will necessarily be less calf moose. That being said, I also think wild populations have a way of managing themselves. Low prey numbers usually means smaller litters and lower numbers of young.  Although, humans tend to mess up the equation.

 

But it is too simple to say "kill the wolves and the elk populations will rise."  I have also watched (as many of you probably have) a documentary that shows the dramatic change - for the better - in Yellowstone once the wolves were reintroduced. The ranchers in the area will likely never admit it, but the return of wolves changed the very landscape. The elk overpopulated the park when there were no wolves.

 

I will never be on board with culling wolves to save moose - if that is where this is going. Its too simple an equation. 


Many Men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

- Henry David Thoreau

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