Wolves in the NW. Thoughts?

[bbbass]

Yes.

 

[Koda]

I cant even begin to imagine how anyone can think complete eradication of apex preditors is a solution to anything?

Honest question

 

[11Charlie]

I cant even begin to imagine how anyone can think complete eradication of apex preditors is a solution to anything?

Honest question

Here is my thought on this Koda. Totally get rid of them NO. But ever since hunting with dogs for cougar has been outlawed they run wild and crazy. You are seeing more and more of them in suburbia and its just a matter of time before some one gets killed by one in his front yard. I believe that apex predators need to be controlled or they will wipe out other populations of animals like deer and elk. When they start running into the problem and can't find food they will look for the easiest pray. Dogs, cattle, horses and so on.

 

[eightyeight mag]

Deer populations have not been the same since they banned hunting cats with dogs back in the ninties.
Cougar kill at least a deer a week according to wdfw.
So let's bring in wolves to really finish off the deer population.
That would be awesome.

 

[Argonaut]

I cant even begin to imagine how anyone can think complete eradication of apex preditors is a solution to anything?

Honest question

They were long gone before some idiot eastern academic thought it was a grand idea to reintroduce them.

 

[Koda]

I agree that they should be managed, and think the environmentalists are living a pipe dream that wolves should be allowed to populate unrestrained to historic levels.
But on the flip side its equally rediculous, and unethical, to completely eradicate a species just because of them doing their natural means of living and existing.

 

[Flymph]

I have to agree with Koda. We should have some wolves, so that there is some competition between predators. Who is to say that wolves would not eat some cougars and black bears. Sure, they are likely to eat elk and deer, but I wouldn't put it past a wolf pack to eat a cougar if they were available.

Hunters or Hunted? Wolves vs. Mountain Lions – National Geographic Blog

I see more problems occurring with a single apex predator than with two in competition.

 

[Koda]

Exactly, it makes no sense to alter the balance of nature and expect good results. Wolves existed just fine ( in Oregon) for thousads of years and there was no shortage of prey.

In fact id say hunting has become worse since the last wolf was shot in Oregon....

 

[Argonaut]

Exactly, it makes no sense to alter the balance of nature and expect good results. Wolves existed just fine ( in Oregon) for thousads of years and there was no shortage of prey.

In fact id say hunting has become worse since the last wolf was shot in Oregon....

When were wolves last seen (before reintroduction) in Oregon. It has never been wolf country. So.......are you going to reintroduce the saber tooth tiger and wooly mammoth as well?

 

[Koda]

When were wolves last seen (before reintroduction) in Oregon. It has never been wolf country. So.......are you going to reintroduce the saber tooth tiger and wooly mammoth as well?

The last one was shot in the 70s (iirc), Oregon has always been wolf country.

Mammoths and tigers went extinct from natural causes millions of years ago....nature at work uninfluenced artificially by man.

 

[Argonaut]

The last one was shot in the 70s (iirc), Oregon has always been wolf country.

Mammoths and tigers went extinct from natural causes millions of years ago....nature at work uninfluenced artificially by man.

You are wrong, when studying biology at the University of Idaho in the late 60's and early 70's we would get an occasional wolf transiting our study area. They were not native or a population. They were not native below the Canadian border.

 

[Argonaut]

The last one was shot in the 70s (iirc), Oregon has always been wolf country.

Mammoths and tigers went extinct from natural causes millions of years ago....nature at work uninfluenced artificially by man.

Since when is man not a part of nature? That is a stupid assumption. Some city dweller probably shot some ranchers dog and thought it was a wolf.

 

[RVTECH]

They were long gone before some idiot eastern academic thought it was a grand idea to reintroduce them.

Yep - I read somewhere once the last reported indigenous wolf in Oregon was shot in 1949.
As I have said before the wolf had it's chance (environmentally) and lost the battle while coyotes for example are doing well and with no restrictions on hunting them.
It makes no sense to reintroduce a species, force an environment on it and monitor it electronically. How is this 'natural' - more like fish in an aquarium.
What is the 'goal'? 500 wolves? a 1000? Will they ever take off the collars and let them have at it un-monitored and see if they make it on their own? Just what is the desired end result for those who are responsible for the reintroduction?

 

[Certaindeaf]

The last one was shot in the 70s (iirc), Oregon has always been wolf country.

Mammoths and tigers went extinct from natural causes millions of years ago....nature at work uninfluenced artificially by man.

Mammoths went bye-bye around twelve thousand years ago.. don't know about the cats.. though I know they went extinct and then spontaneously reappeared untold times over the eons.

 

[Flymph]

I thought "the last wolf shot in Oregon" was a couple weeks ago by some rancher in the Wallowas or Malhuer, I forget... LoL
Oregon has never really been all that great for hunting large plains animals. Either it's desert or mountain, and they prey you're referring to isn't really built for that terrain. Sheep and antelope are more suitable, but we all know between ranch land and hunters they are pretty wiped out. We know it wasn't wolves that did it, they were shot out by then.

We don't have a great savana or plains in Oregon, or relatively flat hardwood timber land, so we'll never have deer or elk like they do back east.

 

[Flymph]

Mammoths went bye-bye around twelve thousand years ago.. don't know about the cats.. though I know they went extinct and then spontaneously reappeared untold times over the eons.

Isn't that about when people showed up?
Just saying...

 

[Argonaut]

Isn't that about when people showed up?
Just saying...

Mammoths and humans lived for an extended period of time together here in North America as well as other parts of the world. The America's were the last continents to get human habitation after they (we?) crossing the Bearing straight during one of the last ice ages.

 

[Flymph]

From what I hear there is an odd coinsidence between humans showing up and a lot of those prehistoric creatures going extinct. I think partially the cause of those mass extinctions was global warming, the other was humans hunting them. Part because the large mammals did not evolve for the new environment, part because humans were and global warming allowed them to migrate further.

I would totally like to see some "Paleolithic Park" set up. Maybe call it "Holocene Horrors" or something like that. LoL

 

[Sstrand]

Koda
I think the last wolf shot in Oregon was only a couple of months ago . . . Unless someone has knowledge of a more recent event.
In which case, don't mention it to anyone!!!!!

Sheldon

 

[Koda]

I was referring to the last wolf that wasn't re-introduced....