Stop The Delisting of America's Gray Wolves!

There is no reason that wolves should be taken off of the endangered species list and be allowed to be slaughtered. It would be a very bad idea to delist America's Gray Wolves. They still need to recover. They are a major part in our countrie's ecosystem. They keep deer and rodent populations low and healthy. People say wolf hunting needs to take place to save the deer. Well who we kill more deer than wolves. How many hunters are out there? Deer hunters. No wonder the deer population is low! It is not the fault of wolves that the deer population is getting low. Instead of mass killing wolves, which shouldn't even be a last resort to this problem, why don't we limit our deer killing? I'm sure it would make a huge difference. As for wolves supposedly not being endangered anymore, there are more tigers in the world than wolves in America. Tigers have had a spot on the endangered species list for a very long time and show no sign of coming off. Why would we take our wolves off? There are estimated to be about 6000 to almost 9000 tigers in the world. There are estimated to be less than 3000 gray wolves left in America. In Wyoming, there are only about 300 or so wolves left. Imagine how many wolf hunters are out there. Thousands! Imagine what would happen if each one of those wolf hunters were allowed to kill about five wolves each or more. Gray wolves would be gone within two years! They are still recovering!

Another popular blame on wolves is livestock problems. But that should not be an issue! It is a proven fact that wolves do not kill many livestock. Wolves are only 2% of the reason for livestock deaths. Bobcats and mountain lions are 8%! They kill more livestock than wolves, yet we still act ingorant and blame wolves. Wolves do not kill for fun. Imagine trying to take down a full grown moose by yourself. Even with a pack, it is dangerous and risky work. Wolves would not risk their life and their pack members lives for sport. And it only makes sense to go for the easiest prey-which happens to be livestock like chickens. Farmers can easily avoid attacks on their livestock by using whats called Fladry. Fladry is string with flags tied every few inches or so. Somehow this absolutely terrifies wolves so that they don't come near the farm. This is a very easy way to keep livestock safe but not many farmers use it. Instead they go right to shooting wolves. We should find more ways to keep wolves from getting to our animals. As for dogs and cats, keep them in a night time. It's not that hard to stop wolves from killing livestock. So this should not be a reason to hunt wolves.

Wolves do NOT need management. People say the gray wolf population needs to be kept to a "healthy" number. Is three thousand a healthy number? NO! That's why gray wolves need to be kept on the list. They still need to recover because who knows when the hunters will stop hunting the wolves. Who knows what the next "healthy" population will be. Im sure it will be extinct.

We need gray wolves in the United State's ecosystem. They are one of the most important parts of our ecosystem. They keep deer and rodent populationos from totally exploding. They keep it balanced. Wolves and deer help each other out. When there is plenty of food and prey, the wolves live well and their populations rise and the deer start to lower. Humans see that as a bad thing and they think that's when the wolves need management. They are wrong. When the prey gets scarce, the wolf population starts to lower, allowing the deer to get high again. This is how nature works. Nature does not need us to interfere! This is how the world went before we came. This is how the wolves and deer survived and didn't die out! We have nothing to worry about for deer populations getting too low unless we mess with it! Wolves are also very important to crows and ravens. Those birds need to wolves to tear open an old carcass so that they can feed on the flesh. Ravens and crows cannot get through the tough fur and hides of many animals so they depend on wolves to help them. Management shouldn't be a reason to hunt wolves either!

Wolves are blamed and believed for being vicious monsters who kill for fun and attack and kill humans. That's not true in the least. Wolves are one of the most vocal and playful animals. Wolves play with their packmembers and even play tricks on them! They love their pack and will protect it with their lives just like human families. They would die for their pack members. Do not mistake this as them being vicious. Wolves only attack if they are feeling threatened. And they do not get that feeling easily. Wolves would attack a human to protect their family and if they are cornered. Any other attacks would mean that the wolf had rabies. Remember, wolves are extremely afriad of humans. They are more afraid of us than we are of them. In some books , when the people are on an island or in Alaska in the wilderness, the wolves go right up to them and try to kill them. This only happens if the wolves are DESPERATE and startving. Wolves are passionate and very intelligent animals. We need to respect them. Wolves love their family and pack members as much as themselves. Say a hunter shot a wolf. The whole pack would mourn for that wolf. After a few days without the pack member's return, they would understand that he/she is gone. They have feelings and emotions just like us. They feel sorrow when their family members die or dissapear. Say the hunter had killed one of the alphas. The whole pack would mourn and the other alpha would either find another mate or never have another mate again. Say the pack only had one alpha because the other one died. If the hunter killed the one alpha that was left, the whole pack would be lost. There are instances when the whole pack would sit and wait for the alphas return or sit, lost without any idea of what to do.

We have to stop the hunting of America's gray wolves. They need our help and we can't sit here and just wish we could do something. We have to act and be their voice. If the wolves are delisted, we could face major ecosystem change. The wolves would be gone from our country within two years. This has to be stopped or we are all truly monsters to allow another beautiful species to become extinct. If you read this whole thing, I'm sorry that it was so long but I had to explain that there is no reason that wolves should be delisted. We have until September 11th which is when the government plans to strip protectios from all wolves in the country. If they win, we can still protest against it, but hopefully we will win. On September 7th, there is going to be a rally for the wolves. It would be great if you could attend, we need as many people as pssible! It goes from 9am to 3pm but you don't have to stay for the whole time. It is going to happen in Washington DC, for more info, go to rallyforwolves.org. If you have any questions about wolves or anything I said or if you don;t agree with e about wolves, my email is allyhop@gmail.com. The wolves will thank you all :)