Kill the Wolves

633 Words2 Pages

Kill the Wolves Bang! A shot rings out in the forest. “Another one down. That’s five this week.” In the early 1900s there were predator extermination teams that were paid for every wolf, mountain lion, and bear they brought dead to the ranger station. Why were these stopped? “It’s those damn tree-huggers again.” Reintroducing Wolves into the southwest is the biggest mistake the government has made in several years. Farmers and ranchers suffer some of the most losses from wolves out of anyone in our society. For one, the wolves eat cattle, which is some rancher’s only means of income. Yes, there are programs which reimburse ranchers for their losses, but the raising calves to cows, feeding them, and immunizing them is more money than one wants to put out for one animal if it isn’t your income. Farmers lose from wolves because their cows, sheep, goats, and dogs get eaten or killed by wolves. For farmers, the money situation is almost as bad as it is for ranchers. Either way wolves infringe on the rights of farmers and ranchers, so they should not be reintroduced into the southwest. Another reason wolves are bad for our society in the southwest, is a good piece of income and food is raised from hunters every year; with wolves being in the wild, hunters would feel afraid to go into the back country looking for a good deer or elk, the best animals would be eaten by wolves thus reducing the number of permits that are being given out, reducing the money generated by hunting permits. Every year hundreds of people purchase hunting licenses and tags for elk and deer. All of that money goes to the forest service’s fund for improving trails, roads, and safety systems in the national forests. With reduced tags being sold, that revenue is lost. In addition to that money being lost, the best animals will be taken down by wolves, leaving the hunters to go for small, sick, injured, or extremely old animals. The effect of releasing wolves into the wild would be detrimental to the southwest’s hunting community.

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