Why These Canadian Wolves are an Invasive Species

The wolves introduced into the Northwest do not appear to be the same as the ones that used to live here. There are tens of thousands of wolves in Canada (where they were taken from) and thousands in Alaska. Thus it is beyond me how they are considered an "endangered species".

Here is a source of information on this:  Not a Local Wolf at All 

 

Imagine a couple of these racing down the mountain at you as you are starting to clean a deer...as happened to my son and his friend a couple of weeks ago in Idaho not far from where I live.

To quote, "It was and is common scientific knowledge that the native male wolf (Canis lupus irremotus) of the Northern Rockies averaged 90 to 95 pounds at maturity. The wolf USFWS brought in as a replacement was a noticeably larger wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) from north-central Alberta, with mature males topping 140 pounds, and some specimens weighing up to 175 pounds."

The article goes on to note, "Under the direction of Mollie Beattie, USFWS developed the Environmental Impact Statement for the reintroduction of wolves. That EIS made a number of assumptions about bringing wolves back to Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies. Almost none of those assumptions has proven to be correct, according to Toby Bridges of the Montana Chapter of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. Writing in 2010, on the group's website, Bridges says: “Instead of getting just the 150 wolves Montanans agreed to back in the mid 1990s, the state is now home to likely 1,000 to 1,200 wolves… This year a minimum of 43,500 elk will be eaten alive or killed and left behind by wolves in the Northern Rockies...”

Bridges also states that “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manipulated science, and replaced the native wolf of this region with a totally non-native...larger...and more aggressive wolf, and has consistently underestimated wolf numbers by half or one third of actual numbers.”

Article with Scientific References

Wolf proponents claim with great vigor that the Canadian wolves are representative of the wolves that lived in the northern Rockies. (Great vigor does not equate to good science). They quote skull studies that show only about a 10% larger average for the imported population from historic skulls. The wolves that live in Minnesota are 30% smaller than the imported Canadian wolves.

You can draw your own conclusion on this topic. Even if they were the same wolves my that would not affect my conclusion that they should not have been planted here. What was gone is gone. I don't see anyone arguing to reintroduce polio into our environment (thankfully).