When the federal government restored wolves to
Yellowstone National Park two years ago, it anticipated that the
surrounding states would ultimately take over management of the
predator. Now, Wyoming has taken the first step in that direction
by producing a draft wolf-management plan. The plan’s preferred
alternative calls for allowing six wolf packs to move outside the
park’s boundaries. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s
biologists think that’s the number the ecosystem can handle, says
department spokesman Bill Wichers. Surplus wolves would be
relocated, preferably back to the park, he adds. Groups such as
Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club say containing and
relocating wolves is expensive and impractical. “What we have
learned (from experience with wolves in Montana) is that trying to
constrain them to an artificial area just doesn’t work,” says Hank
Fischer of Defenders of Wildlife, a group that pays ranchers for
livestock killed by wolves. Environmentalists would prefer that the
state manage the wolves wherever they find suitable habitat and
tackle problems, such as attacks on livestock, on a case-by-case
basis. The Wyoming Farm Bureau, on the other hand, wants the state
to keep all wolves within Yellowstone’s
boundaries.
For a copy of the plan or to send
comments by May 16, call 1-800-842-1834, or write to Wolf Proposal,
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 5400 Bishop Blvd., Cheyenne, WY
82006.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wolves will be wolves.
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