What can wolves do for you?
In this time of calamitous, precipitous loss of biodiversity, Colorado has the opportunity to take one baby step toward conserving it by restoring wolves. .
Why restore wolves? Studies in Banff and Yellowstone showed that wolves, in putting carcasses on the ground regularly, feed more other creatures than any other predator. Twenty species fed on wolf-killed carcasses in Banff, a dozen in Yellowstone, and more species of beetles use carcasses than all vertebrates put together. Some 23,365 beetles of 445 species were found on ungulate carcasses in Yellowstone.
And why not? In the northern rockies, wolves are taking only 1 in 10,000 cattle present, and 3 in 10,000 sheep per year. Since 1995, elk numbers have increased in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Not one of more than 120 million visitors to Yellowstone, including nearly 7 million campers, has been hurt by a wolf, and wolf watchers add $65.5 million yearly to the economies of the counties surrounding the park.
Modeling and field research tells us that wolves, as well as mountain lions, can detect, select, and take prion-infected animals out of the system. Wolves are on the hunt 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They are our last best hope to reduce or eliminate chronic wasting disease. In the face of increasing rates of infection in Colorado’s deer, elk, and moose, it is essential that wolves are allowed to perform their role as sanitarians, or as Lewis and Clark dubbed them, “Shepherds of the Buffaloes.”
By Norm Bishop