With the first case of chronic wasting disease in elk reported by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Grand Teton National Park, the debate on current wildlife management programs has been given new urgency. Kristin Combs with Wyoming Wildlife Advocates says she hopes the public will weigh in on the agency’s assessment of winter elk feed grounds. However, at the same time, she says keeping wolf populations at bare minimums is counter-productive because the apex predators are a free source of disease control if allowed to do their job.
“Wolves are able to take out these sick and weak animals long before humans can see symptoms, and yet we are still killing off wolves when they could be a big solution,” Combs said.
Combs admits while loss of livestock can be significant for individual ranchers, there is no evidence that wolves are serious competition for hunters, pointing to biologist reports that wolves in Yellowstone, where hunting is not allowed, have kept elk herds healthy.
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