As Wolf Populations Rebound, an Angry Backlash Intensifies

<i>There is also an increase in unethical behavior around wolves, environmentalists say. In Montana, wolves are legally trapped with neck snares placed on trails. A wolf wanders into the metal loop and slowly chokes to death. Sometimes, grizzly bears, dogs, or other nontarget animals are accidentally killed. In Wyoming, snowmobile riders chase down and run over coyotes and wolves in a pastime called “yote mashing.”</i><p><i>In one instance a Wyoming man, Cody Roberts, brought a wolf that he had injured with a snowmobile into a bar in Daniel, Wyoming, with its mouth taped shut. He kissed and teased the leashed wolf and allowed it to be filmed before the animal was shot behind the bar. Roberts was fined $250.</i>

These articles are always so completely one-sided.<p>In Alaska these animals are highly intelligent and groups of them will take down Caribou. They aren’t pets.<p>Of course there’s backlash at folks living in a metro area or working at Yale who get the bright idea to play God and introduce dangerous game into someone’s backyard to “fix” the ecosystem. Except that will never be the case because there are millions of humans now living, recreating, and ranching in that same ecosystem.