Campfire » Wolves Back Under Fish and Game Control in Idaho!

Officials at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game believe about 1,000 wolves are in Idaho, though the official number is 705. The agency will begin work to establish a new population goal this month, with a new hunting season for wolves expected this fall.

No doubt our antlered friends will benefit from a wolf season but this article asks a tough question:  How many wolves is just right?

“We need to put as much pressure as we can on those wolves, pin them down and drive them back into the wilderness,” said Republican Sen. Monty Pearce, chairman of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee. “I think we need to thin them down rapidly.”

“Let’s face reality, we will never get back to 100 wolves,” Pearce said. “If we did a year-round open season, we would never get back to the 100 mark.”

Biologists aren’t so sure.

Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore has asked his experts to determine how many wolves are necessary to ensure the population never drops below that legal limit. Wildlife populations fluctuate dramatically because of disease and other factors — and in the past, state officials have been hesitant to set the number anywhere so low.

Read the rest of the article here:  http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/05/10/1643287/how-many-wolves-is-just-right.html

Makes you think...zero?  100?  500?