Something I did not know about World War I. Found this article interesting. They don't teach you this in grade school. By the way, this post is not meant to promote hatred of wolves. I simply found it fascinating.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/wo...YHk6rXDpcHu25QkG2kXfsTRQNN2gl1m_LePE1QSs

More recently they were having trouble with large packs of wolves terrorizing people and livestock in Russia.

I'm sure they had plenty to eat after a battle!?!? That would've been my luck to survive a sniper only to be killed by wolves.

Interesting

The population of wolves most likely rose greatly because of the huge number of dead humans to eat. After a few years of mostly eating humans and successfully raising very large litters, wolves likely no longer had fear of humans and just saw humans as prey, leading to attacks on living soldiers.

I have read that Norway rats had huge population explosions from eating dead people during WWI and WWII too.

Keith

California just needs to import some wolves to clean up the dead after the new plague wipes through. Got plenty in Wisconsin we'd be willing to lend them.

Coyotes and mountain lions will fill that niche.

Keith

Then what the heck are we supposed to do with all these dang wolves?! Ha!

I think the Wisconsin wolves would make lovely parkas, mittens and hats.

Keith

I would tend to agree, except when we had a season it opened in mid-October and the wolves were all harvested before they had a chance to get prime.

Wolf fur is durable and one of the few furs that shed frost rime.The leather is also strong and not too hvy weight.Makes great apparel for extreme cold.Comes in all colours and looks good too.A bit more challenging to sew on the machine because of the "puff".

I'll probably catch flak for this but I really don't mind having wolves around. We need a lot less of them here in Idaho though. They need managed and managed hard. Read that initially the USFS said Idaho could sustain 90 wolves or 6 packs. We had 783 at last official count. Yep... glad we can "touch" them. For now. Nice resource to be able to target. I haven't harvested one. Got outsmarted by a few and had a coyote I caught torn to shreds by a pack. Just makes me want to catch one even more. But do I hate them? Absolutely not.

Amazing article, as I read this while at work last night,,,, and good point made by Wild_idaho right above this comment.
I do firmly believe that everything - all animals - exist for a reason [keeping things in balance as far as populations go...] and when the numbers become too great, it is our duty to help mother nature out.
I can't even begin to imagine what trapping one for the first time must be like, it must be a feeling that stays with you forever !!

we were doing just fine manageing elk moose and deer prior to invasive wolf introduction.Wolves have no place in modern wildlife management. the days of true wilderness is long gone

"the days of true wilderness is long gone"

This ^^ is definately true.... and most unfortunate....

Just need to go north, Canada or Russia take your pick and you will find more wilderness than you could take in in 100 lifetimes.

I imagine most of the 5,405,000 square miles of Antarctica is literally untouched wilderness. Only 4000 people live in Antarctica during the Summer and less than 1000 people live there in the Winter.

Keith

good read!!! thanks for sharing

That is the problem. If you don't keep their numbers in check, they likely will devastate your ungulate populations. This is why you do not reintroduce them, not because you hate wolves, it is because the political reality is managing their populations will be difficult or impossible. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have few wolves around, but we live in a litigious and political world where it is very easy to stop wildlife management. When the ungulate population's reach their low you will have to decimate the wolf population to release the ungulates from their predator pit. All this could be avoided, if the bunny huggers would stop interfering. They won't as long as they keep winning and making money.

Good luck!

The same argument can be made for ungulate populations.

Substitute "Ungulates" with "native vegetation and other wildlife populations" in your above post.
Then exchange "wolf/wolves" with "ungulates".

Do some google searches on deer/ungulates overabundance. Lots of studies/info out there for the reading.

Ungulates are more destructive to the environment/ecology than predators are.

Both are needed and have a place in the world.

Managing either is a tough job and not a simple prospect.