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michaelundinaeichhorn · 26-10-2009, 08:15

Oh, I am very sorry, I didn´t realize that

It was an article about the killing of the yellowstone wolves. The whole research done on this wolves can´t be used any longer for the project that they have been collared for (what costs 1500,--/wolf) because it is a long-term study on packs without human influence. One of the things it showed is that older wolves (what means older than 4!, the average live span in the wild is 6!) don´t hunt elks any more on their own. The youngers do it and sometimes get help from the olders in the end and all of them feed of the prey. But it also means that if you want to increase the number of elks in wolfterritory it is the wrong way to kill adult wolves because they are the ones that don´t prefer elks any longer. And management plans always go out from the thinking that you have the more elks the more wolves you shoot, what is showed to be wrong in this study.
The killing of the adults of the cottonwood pack not only means that the puppies will die but also that very likely the younger wolves that still wander around will spread out of the park into lifestock-areas and that in general the younger wolves will hunt mor elks than before.
And of course that a project that would have helped to find out how to do a better management has been severely disturbed or maybe destroid by exactly the people who could have been having the benefit of it.

Ina

26-10-2009, 08:15	#12
michaelundinaeichhorn Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bad Dürkheim Posts: 2,249	Oh, I am very sorry, I didn´t realize that It was an article about the killing of the yellowstone wolves. The whole research done on this wolves can´t be used any longer for the project that they have been collared for (what costs 1500,--/wolf) because it is a long-term study on packs without human influence. One of the things it showed is that older wolves (what means older than 4!, the average live span in the wild is 6!) don´t hunt elks any more on their own. The youngers do it and sometimes get help from the olders in the end and all of them feed of the prey. But it also means that if you want to increase the number of elks in wolfterritory it is the wrong way to kill adult wolves because they are the ones that don´t prefer elks any longer. And management plans always go out from the thinking that you have the more elks the more wolves you shoot, what is showed to be wrong in this study. The killing of the adults of the cottonwood pack not only means that the puppies will die but also that very likely the younger wolves that still wander around will spread out of the park into lifestock-areas and that in general the younger wolves will hunt mor elks than before. And of course that a project that would have helped to find out how to do a better management has been severely disturbed or maybe destroid by exactly the people who could have been having the benefit of it. Ina Last edited by michaelundinaeichhorn; 26-10-2009 at 08:24.