Big Bad Wolf Story

When a wild animal is ready to be removed from America's endangered species
list, it ought to be cause for celebration.
You'd think so.
That's the idea, right?  Increase, expand and secure an animal's population
to the point it's not endangered so then it could be removed from the list,
right?
You'd think so.  But.....that's not the logical comeback story when the wild
animal is a gray wolf.
Let's call this story:  ''A short history about the Eastern Timber Wolf  in
Minnesota.''
Nah.  Changed my mind.   For one thing, it's no short history.
A more accurate description about Minnesota and its wolves might be: ''How
Not To Manage Wildlife.''   Until lately, the key management strategy has
been....  what goes on the endangered list, stays on the endangered list.
Strange, huh.  I thought the reason for America's Endangered Species Act was
to help species endangered by extinction or extirpation to recover enough to
be REMOVED from the list.
 That's not the way things are done in Minnesota's wolf soap opera.  The
history of the wolf in Minnesota is more like a classic example of How Not
To Manage Wildlife.
Let us list the ways.
The wolf was placed on the endangered species list in 1974.  Estimated wolf
population was 500 to 1,000.
In 1980,1983 and 1991, Minnesota proposed that the state should manage its
wolves.  For various reasons, including law suits by anti-hunting groups,
the wolf remained on the endangered list, despite population estimates of
1,500 to 1,750 animals.
 In 1997, the wolf count was estimated at perhaps historic highs, 2,445
wolves.  A breeding pack was found within 65 miles of the Twin Cities.
 Hooray, perhaps now the wolf could come off the list?
Not so fast.  When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggested taking the
wolf off the list, animal rights groups sued again, winning in court on
technicalities.
Biologically, wolf experts say, the gray wolf in Minnesota should have been
declared a recovered species way back in 1989.  Today, the state's wolf
count is about 3,000 animals and wolf-human conflicts  appear to be
increasing.  Ask an Ely, Minn. dog owner.
All of this wolf drama with its needless court suits and needless tax
dollars wasted on an animal no longer endangered is a black eye on the
science of wildlife management.
And all because animal rights zealots wanted no hunting of wolves.  In their
view, the Minnesota DNR can manage deer but it isn't capable of managing
gray wolves.
What a fairy tale end