Feds appeal judge's order to protect gray wolves

Feds appeal judge's order to protect gray wolves

Unit 3: Political Parties, Interest Groups, & Mass Media

1 March 2015

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/28/gray-wolf-population-in-oregon-returning.html

Who the matter is concerning is conservation groups (such as Oregon Wildlife) who believe that the gray wolf is worth protecting versus the farmer organizations (Cattlemen’s Association) who believe that wolf populations need to be kept a low numbers in Southeastern states where the gray wolf population resides and has resided for hundreds of years.  Early 2015 district judge Beryl Howell said that certain states (Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota) did not provide the proper protection to gray wolves; stating that they had not reached their historic levels of population.  There is conflict over whether or not gray wolves should be protected by national wildlife services in the states they reside in because scientists say that their population is still not viable yet conservative groups refute by saying that the population has exceeded the terms for endangerment and hunting is necessary for population control, protection of livestock, etc.  In 2011 the federal government decided that the gray wolf population was viable enough to take the species of the endangered list so they turned the protection of the wolves over to the states.  This has prevailed in the conflict of whether or not the wolves need protection from large hunting groups who want the population sustained.  Certain hunting Interest Groups want to extinguish the population of gray wolves because they believe the wolves harm their livestock and that the wolves are not worth protecting.  The reason the wolves are worth protecting is because they are an important part of the ecosystem and if the population were to dwindle then the food chain would be at risk.

My opinion on the matter concerning the ruling of District Judge Beryl Howell, unlike the Obama Administration and states Wisconsin and Michigan, I believe that gray wolves should remain protected.  I disagree with the non-governmental organizations (NGO's) such at the Cattlemen's association because gray wolves do serve a purpose to the food chain.  The purpose gray wolves serve is they keep deer and elk migrating (and their population healthy) so that they do not over-graze, that vegetation helps against erosion of riverbeds, provides nesting areas for birds, and helps river life survive.  There are interest groups such as Oregon Wildlife and scientists who think that the wolf population is still not viable and needs to be protected.    Not necessarily suggesting that they are an endangered species but aiming toward the goal that would have states protecting their wolves against aggressive game hunters.  Hunters and NGO's are stating that their livestock is being tampered with by the wolf population and they believe that the numbers should stay low.    The refute against this from the Washington State University with conduction of a study that shows that killing gray wolves that prey on livestock only leads to more killings of livestock.  This being factual because Alpha males and females are the only wolves in the pack that are allowed to hunt down livestock (and breed for survival of the pack) thus when hunters kill one or both of the alphas, other members in the pack breed and thus create more livestock killings.  Oregon has made progress in keeping their wolf species alive and healthy and since hunters were not able to hunt the wolves while the population grew, livestock killings were kept low.

In April, wildlife officials plan to decide whether or not the protections of the wolves will be lifted off Oregon or not even though that northern two-thirds of the state will still have the wolves marked as endangered.