Thank heavens controls were implemented in 2010. Here is what they don't show you:
If you sum the above chart from wolf introduction through 2013 you get the following. In other words using the wolf proponents own data the total number of Elk killed by the Canadian wolves in Idaho through 2013 is over 180,000. That is over twice the total estimated number of Elk in Idaho. No wonder we are seeing such devastation.
The wolf advocates ignore these painful deaths.
I used 21.6 Elk killed per year per wolf to generate the above graph. It comes from this source: Pro wolf estimate of elk/wolf-year The article writer was pro-wolf, minimizing the effect on the herd. Other articles suggest a range from 11-35 Elk per year per wolf.
Here is what the above source says, "The only good figures over several years come from the winter wolf studies on the northern range. [of Yellowstone] There is an early winter study when prey are strong and a late winter study when prey after weaker. The average since the winter studies began was 1.4 elk per wolf per month for the early study and 2.2 elk per wolf/month in the late winter study. The average is 1.8 elk per wolf. People multiply that by 12 and come up with 21.6 elk per wolf a year."
I used 21.6 because it is the best I can find. Other estimates range from 11-35 per year per wolf. I suspect 21.6 is too high on average. Other studies claim a wolf needs about seven pounds of meat per day to be healthy and breed. (That also seems like a lot to me.) Even a calf elk provides over 50 pounds of meat. Large cows and bulls provide over 200 pounds of meat: a 30 day supply. I can see how eating of fetuses would increase the number but wolf eating other stuff like deer, moose, bison, and coyote would reduce it.
Despite some claims to the contrary wolves do not eat all of the Elk meat they bring down. Sometimes they just eat the fetus out of a cow. Thus it is more correct to speak of Elk killed than Elk eaten.
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