Like someone else said, I don't post much, but I felt the need to comment on this thread. The following is a statement from the chairman of Boone & Crockett's conservation committee in 1969, Lee Talbot. His thoughts are pretty similar to my attitude towards the question of predators (I, too, enjoy knowing that bigger and toothier things are out in the mountains with me), and it also sheds light on who is behind predator reintroduction/preservation.
If I wanted to read about how wolves/cats/bears were reintroduced in order to destroy hunting, I would go read the comments on Field & Stream.
Again, this is from 1969--
“Throughout much of his early history, man has been in conflict with predators, either because the predators represented a direct threat to man and his livestock or because they competed with man for certain prey species. One result of this relationship has been the wholesale extermination of larger predators. Over half of the mammalian species exterminated in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Antarctic, and North America have been larger predators (the bear, dog, and cat families). The earliest documented extermination was the European lion, in about 40 A.D.
Another result of the historical man-predator relationship is the attitude with which man views the predators. On the one hand, for many peoples of many cultures, various larger predators symbolize strength, courage, and power. On the other hand, to a few people the subject remains remarkably emotional, and there are still a few who maintain the view that ‘the only good varmint is a dead varmint’. The same sentiment was expressed about the American Indians, and for many of the same reasons. Fortunately, we have gotten past that stage in the case of the Indians, and we are getting past it with predators.
Modern biology has shown that predators are an integral and quite necessary part of nature. Destruction of predators has been carried out because of the belief that deer and other game animals could not survive their depredations. The great body of scientific research, however, shows that if anything the reverse is true. In the first place, predators and prey evolved here together and if they couldn’t survive, one or the other would have been long since extinct. But further, when the predators are removed, the side effects are frequently extremely damaging to the environment and to the prey species itself.
Throughout its history the Boone and Crockett Club has played an important role in assuring a conservation ‘fair deal’ for various forms of wildlife, including, of course, the large predators. The Club’s recent activities on behalf of the polar bear are a current example, as is its current concern with wolves. Like other large predators, wolves are an integral and necessary part of the ecosystem in which they live and although they have generated a great deal of misinformation and emotional heat, there are a number of fine biological studies that show their real and important role in ecology. These include, for example, the works of Pimlott, Murie, Allen, and Seaton.
In some areas there are conflicts between predators and other human interests. The same situation can exist with virtually any other large wild animal. The solutions to such problems, as to most other conservation issues, require an objective approach based upon the best available scientific information. This approach is basic to the conservation principles on which the Club is founded, and the Club recognizes a continuing responsibility to bring this approach to conservation of predators as well as to other forms of wildlife.”
