To add massive insult to injury, the rancher’s non-native cattle graze on federal tax payer subsidized public lands that belong to all Americans, land that should be a haven for America’s vital wolves and other native wildlife, including native bison, grizzly bears, mountain lions, prairie dogs, wolverines, coyotes and so many other amazing members of the continent’s rich natural heritage. The millions of non-native cattle grazing unsupervised throughout the arid West cause tremendous damage trampling across fragile ecosystems where they do not belong. The cattlemen’s reign of terror against the native wildlife and wild lands of the United States must permanently come to an end. And let it begin now by saying NO MORE to their unrelenting campaign of demonization and slaughter of America’s wolves.
It must be noted, there are decent ranchers who respect native wildlife, including wolves, and who have adopted proven, responsible and humane measures to co-exist with them. These good and decent people are to be commended and supported. It’s just that there are not enough of them.
Ecologically ignorant hunters and sadistic trappers also relentlessly persecute and slaughter natural predators that belong in every ecosystem. Wolves, like all natural predators, are miracles of evolution and keep every ecosystem they inhabit vibrant and healthy. Where wolves are present on the landscape, there are often more elk and deer, and these prey animals are healthier. For instance, according to the Montana Division of Fish & Wildlife, there were 90,000 elk living throughout the state before wolves began to return to the state, on their own, in the 1970’s and 80’s. Now with wolves living across the state, wildlife officials estimate the elk population at over 140,000! Elk populations have risen similarly in nearby states. It is so easy to refute the unfounded propaganda that wolves decimate their prey.