11. Hunting and Wildlife Management

IT IS MY RIGHT!

You are right! By law we are all allowed to hunt for a living but we must due it responsibly. This week we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about hunting and wildlife management. This is where I get to blog about my experience in my Conservation class and well as my experience in this class. 

(First People)

Again, the HSUS shows how they are working with hunters to try and educate them on better ways to hunt. My conservation class is all about finding ways to help preserve the species of animals by finding effective tools to do so. There has been a lot of controversy with those who do not believe in the work of conservationist, as they believe animals should be free. Most people do not realize that this is the ultimate goal of conservationists. To reintroduce all species into the wild and find ways for humans and animals to co-exist. 

(PBS)

This semester I did a behavior project on the Gray Wolf. Every week, I went to the D.C. National Zoo and do my study. I learned a lot about the wolf and the problems it faces out in the wilderness. In 1995, the Gray Wolf was reintroduced back into Yellowstone National Park after being taken into captivity for many years. Right away there was conflict between the humans and wolfs. 

Attached is a small part of my essay on the Gray Wolf and its conflicts....

Depredation of livestock was the primary justification for eradicating the wolf from virtually all

of the United States. Other serious threats to the wolves are human encroachment into wolf habitat. This leads to habitat fragmentation, where wolves might have to travel across lands with varying degrees of protection, cross highways, through developed areas and across large portions of private land, potentially containing livestock . This makes it hard for the gray wolf to adequately expand into all areas of suitable habitat, which is vital to sustainable recovery of wolves.

In the late 20^th century, greater tolerance, legal protection, and other factors allowed their range to expand in areas of the United States. Today, listed on the endangered list, they only inhabit around 36% of their suitable habitat. In 2011, wolves across the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes region were stripped of their protection under the ESA. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to remove all the ESA protection for nearly all gray wolves across America 

Many biologist and conservationist oppose this measure as they feel it would derail wolf recovery efforts made through out many years. One of the main reasons is that they are concerned for the long-term genetic health of subpopulations. The gray wolf is truly a magnificent animal with much to offer to the world. Besides its interesting pack structure, the gray wolf has shown to be vital for the sustainability of other species. While there are those feel they have the right to control the wolves population with their own measures, without special conservation efforts to help keep this species thriving and alive, there would not only be a huge impact on the wolf itself, but the effects would trickle down to other species in the food chain, even to vegetation.

Colby (grey) and Crystal (White)

After the talk we had in class about hunting and wildlife management, I realized that there needs to be more innovating ways too protect species. For example, recently a study was done to stop wolves from entering into farmers land. Since farmers feel that the only way to protect their crops and animals is to kill the wolf, biologist found a way to use chemical to keep wolves out of their territory. Wolves by nature as very territorial animals and will not enter into the space of another pack. Biologist used feces, urine and a dead wolf's paw to create a border to keep the wolves away....and it actually worked! WIN-WIN!!!!

(Minnesota Public Radio)

The HSUS, like many other organizations are finding other creative ways to help conserve these species while still allowing farmers to make a living. This is why I do support conservation. There are aspects of conservation that I do not necessarily care for but at the end of the day, I feel that they do more good than harm.