Most of us from rural communities understand that wildlife conservation is a balancing act between predator and prey. As humans, it is our job, as the Bible says, to have “dominion” over it and help manage what we can.
For some species, such as the gray wolf, it’s a rather contentious argument.
As you likely know, the gray wolf has been included on the national “endangered wildlife” list for some time. As such, it has been federally protected, and most states have strict no-hunting laws when it comes to wolves.
But in states, such laws are becoming rather problematic.
Take Minnesota, for instance. As part of the natural habitat of the gray wolf, hunting wolves has been banned there for decades. However, as the wolf population has grown, citizens are noticing more and more dangers in living with these wild predators.
Minnesota Congressman Pete Stauber is one. As he shared in a video recently on his social media accounts, wolves are becoming less and less afraid of humans. This, as well as the fact that there are more of them, meaning they will expand their territory, means the risk to humans is increasing exponentially.
In the video sent to Stauber by a logger, a wolf is seen chasing down a whitetail deer, the carnivore’s natural and main source of food. The problem is that the creature runs right through a human-populated logging job site to do it.
A logger from northern St. Louis County just sent me this video of a wolf running through his job site and taking down a whitetail deer. As you can see, wolves lost any fear of humans and are increasingly dangerous to livestock & pets and decimating our deer herd. Delist! pic.twitter.com/XxNbMUsJKn
— Pete Stauber (@PeteStauber) February 7, 2024
“As you can see, wolves lost any fear of humans and are increasingly dangerous to livestock & pets and decimating our deer herd,” Stauber says.
Stauber then adds that we need to “delist” the wolf, as in taking it off the endangered species list.
Now, Stauber nor anyone else is saying that these amazing creations do not exist anymore. However, as the video shows, their natural habitat is not what it once was. What used to be just forests and plains are now housing communities and neighborhoods full of kids.
And so there needs to be a balance.
Naturally, some environmental groups are not at all on board. But as Dan Stark of Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources says, the “wolf population has recovered, and we have a wolf management plan in place,” should the animal be delisted.
Hopefully, that happens before one decides to see a child as its next meal.
