The logic goes: wolves kill livestock, so killing more wolves means less livestock loss. But researchers have found that’s not quite the case.
A new study published in the journal Science Advances analyzed wolf hunting across the western U.S. It determined hunting is not the most effective method for addressing livestock loss.
"You'd have to kill quite a few wolves in order to save one cow, on average," says Leandra Merz, the paper's lead author.
Merz and her colleagues found you’d have to kill roughly 14 wolves to prevent them from eating one cow. The study found that federal programs that kill problem wolves are more effective.
"Let's find the most effective solutions that can really help ranchers. And then, whether we want hunting or not, I think we should be clear about the purposes of hunting," Merz says.
FWP’s Game Management Bureau Chief Brian Wakeling read the paper and says the findings make sense and track with other FWP research. He didn’t say whether the research will impact wolf hunting regulations in the future.
State Republican lawmakers told the agency to increase wolf hunting. And Wakeling says this year’s quota of 458 wolves aligns with that legislative intent.
He says the number of livestock killed by wolves have been declining in recent years. Wakeling attributes that to a combination of factors, including nonlethal management, such as range riders, fence flagging and livestock guard dogs.
"What we've been seeing over time has been a general reduction in the number of lethal removals that were undertaken as a result of the interactions with livestock," Wakeling told MTPR.
But Wakeling says the reasons people hunt are more complicated than just protecting cows and sheep.
"The livestock issues with what's held up as, you know, the rationale. But you know, there's a lot of other things that I hear legislators speak to, I hear commissioners speak to, I hear the public speak to. Probably primary amongst that is native ungulates."
Wolves are often blamed for declines in deer and elk herds. Although research from Yellowstone National Park indicates wolves are just one of many factors.
