True^...but that doesn't address the devastation they extract on wildlife and livestock populations. Is it understandable that a sheep rancher would be "emotional" when 15 of his sheep are killed in one night?
An east coast animal rights advocate that will probably never set foot in your state and thinks it would be cool to have cute wolves running around ....vs a rancher/resident that lives with the many negatives caused by wolves?
Are you really saying these^ "Emotions" are the same?
Are you saying you prefer wolves to manage the elk and deer populations over hunting programs?
..
Your reply right here is a perfect example of the emotion based response that wolves trigger from both sides. I'm not quantifying or comparing any emotion or which side the emotion comes from.
Facts matter to me, and I don't run and hide from them or get all twisted up around the axle about wolves or any other predator.
Check this data:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/sheep/downloads/sheepdeath/SheepDeathLoss2015.pdf
Seems to me, if I were a sheep rancher, I'd be more concerned about the neighbor dogs than wolves...by a long damn shot. There are lots of predators that kill more livestock and wildlife than wolves...facts are what they are.
Just because someone takes a reasonable look at the data provided by APHIS, you seem to want to go on the offensive when the facts are presented and bring nothing to the table but emotion.
I have no problem with wolves on the landscape, have lived in and around them for a long time, nearly my entire life. Same with grizzly bears, black bears, lions, coyotes, bobcats, lynx, etc. etc.
I also have no problem with controlling all of those predators via hunting, lethal control by APHIS/State wildlife services, trapping, etc. In particular targeting individuals or specific groups of predators causing significant livestock loss. I have been fortunate to not only spend a lot of time trapping and hunting predators personally, but also knowing many state and federal government hunters as well. Their view, and mine, line up pretty closely on how best to go about dealing with predators in relation to livestock losses.
From the perspective of wolves impact on big-game, sure its an impact, wolves kill other wildlife. But again, with some research on population estimates of all predators provided by various state and federal agencies, those pesky facts paint the TRUE picture nicely.
As a big-game hunter, there are other predators that I'm concerned about equally, or more so, than wolves. I also tend to be wayyyyy more concerned with habitat loss, human encroachment, migration corridors, development, disease issues, plant diversity/succession, etc. etc. in regard to our big-game than predators, by a landslide, at a minimum.
When emotions trump facts, from either side, I tune them out...
