A new study overturns conventional ideas about wolf management and predation.
"SEATTLE — The anti-wolf billboards that went up this week in eastern Washington State are not at all subtle. Two glaring yellow eyes peer out at the top, with an elk and other animals below, leading, left to right, toward a laughing little girl in a swing next to what appears to be her dog. The text reads: “The wolf ... who’s next on their menu?”
But supporters of the idea that wolves and people must find new ways to coexist also have ammunition to fire back, in a surprising new report published Wednesday. A statistical study of 25 years of records across several states by researchers at Washington State University concluded that traditional wolf management — killing some wolves to reduce their impact on livestock like sheep — mostly does not work.
Killing wolves, the analysis suggested, may in fact make things worse as packs adapt, move around and increase their reproduction rates — and then kill even more livestock the year after their numbers have been reduced."
Kirk Johnson reports for the New York Times December 3, 2014.
Advertisement 
