The reintroduction of wolves has been a big debate between hunters and non-

hunters everywhere in the western United States. There are a lot of controversial debates

whether wolves should be allowed to be reintroduced or not. The main issue is that

wolves are predators and they will affect every aspect of the wilderness, everything from

wild animal populations to livestock, even affecting the logging industry. I hope that I

will be able to share some of the research that I have found concerning this topic. The

three main views that I want to discuss is first, Farmers are having added stress to protect

their livestock and make sure that they can still provide for their families, second, that

hunters will be threatened by the wolves and that can cause lots of problems and money

shortages in the conservation of wild animals and the habitat all around us and them, and

last but not least the benefits of having wolves reintroduced into the wilderness and some

of the really good things that it can bring.

So let’s begin, One of the main concerns and views of this issue is that they will

harm livestock and cause the farmers a lot of heartache. In one of the sources that I was

able to find they talked to a local farmer in Colorado after the vote passed to reintroduce

wolves. Perry said, “I think it will be devastating.” She also spoke about the added stress

that it puts on her cows. “She fears her cows will be nervous and won’t gain weight if

wolves are around.” From (“Wolves Are Coming Back to Colorado. Now Comes the

Tricky Part.” written by Purtell, Joe.) These are just a few of the worries that can come

from farmers having to deal with wolves. Not only do they have added stress of making

sure that the wolves don’t kill their livestock, they have to make sure that the cows and

other animals are stress free enough to gain weight and to produce milk and other animal
products that we use on a daily basis. In another article written by (Spencer Mckee he

writes about the livestock industry saying this, “in 2015, wolves were responsible for 158

cattle deaths, 218 sheep deaths, 5 dog deaths, and 3 dead horses” he goes on to say that

“Idaho has also had issues with wolves getting to livestock. In 2016, 76 animals fell to

wolves. As a result, 70 of the state’s roughly 700 wolves were killed.”) These are just a

few of the examples that I could find about the livestock and the effect that the wolves

have on them, if wolves are to be reintroduced hopefully there is an ethical way of

keeping the wolves away from livestock.

Another stress that can add to the mix not only to farmers but to everyone in

Colorado and wherever else this gets passed, is the fact that this is being funded by taxes.

I know that everyone wants fewer taxes and so by adding more taxes to the mix for such

a controversial topic is the icing on the cake for a lot of people of why they should not be

allowed to be reintroduced. This is coming from another source that I found that brought

up a lot of lesser known facts about wolf reintroduction. The Source is an article written

by (Brian Aucone called “Wolf Reintroduction 101, Answers to your questions about the

possible reestablishment of wolves to Colorado.” You can find this source on

denverzoo.com).

My next viewpoint that I would like to talk about now is the effect that this will

have on hunters. Being a hunter myself makes me a little biased on this topic but I can

also tell you first hand what some hunters are afraid of and what really makes the hunting

community not want wolves to be reintroduced. Little do people realize that the hunting

industry brings in 919 million dollars a year to the state of Colorado alone. (“Much of
which gets spent in small, remote towns that rely on this income to exist. Some are

concerned that if wolves are reintroduced, they’ll reduce the population of big game, thus

reduce the hunting appeal of small rural towns in the Centennial State.” This is a great

point brought up by Spencer Mckee in his article “The Key Arguments for Both Sides of

the Wolf Reintroduction Debate in Colorado.”) that you can find on the

outtherecolorado.com website.

Last but not least the good things that can come from reintroducing wolves. The first

source I want to bring up is this (Farquhar, Brodie. “Wolf Reintroduction Changes

Ecosystem in Yellowstone.” yellowstonepark.com june 30, 2020). This is an article

talking about yellowstone and some of the effects that they have seen over the years. The

first real benefit they see is in the beaver population. This is because during the winter the

elk eat all of the beavers' habitat. So the wolves have been able to smallen the elk

population which means the beavers can have their habitat back so they are seeing a spike

in numbers. In another article (living with wolves written by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, they

state “WOLVES, now returned to their original habitat, play a vital role in keeping the

world of predator and prey in balance. Once they’ve eaten their fill, the leftovers from

their kills provide food for scavengers, including bald and golden eagles, magpies,

coyotes, ravens, and bears.”) This is great information knowing that the wolves can

balance out the predators and prey and will be able to see some growth to all species.

They also talk about the aspen trees and how they are stronger than ever before as well

which helps the rivers and fish. So the wolves are helping the rivers as well.
 In conclusion, I for sure thought that I was going to be against the wolf

reintroduction because I feared that the hunting and livestock industries are just to vital to

the way of life for everyone in the country without realizing how crucial they are, but

through the research that I have done and being a man who loves that outdoors and being

one with nature. It is hard for me to say which one I would take as I know the states

would hurt from less hunting I also want to do what is best for the environment which

from what I can tell it is reintroducing wolves over leaving them out. I just hope that

there is a way that we can protect the livestock and hunters from the wolves as their

populations grow. So there you have it my mind has been changed to be ok with them

reintroducing wolves into the western states including Utah.