Complaining that wolves are hunting the same elk that human hunters would prefer to kill themselves, Idaho governor Butch Otter last week exhorted hunters to shoot the wolves. Gray wolves became endangered as a result of overhunting, but a re-introduction program a decade ago has brought their numbers back up to 1,200, about half of which are in Idaho. The Idaho governor’s proposal would encourage hunters to pick off all but 100 of Idaho’s wolves — the threshhold of consideration for the endangered list once again.

I haven’t experienced what it is like to live with fear of wolves eating my livestock, my game, or my children. However, statistics indicate that this fear is largely unwarranted. The Predator Conservation Alliance says that, while 100,000 cattle in the Northern Rockies “were lost to weather, disease, and calving problems” in just one year in 1995, only one-half of one percent of this number of cows and sheep were confirmed as killed by wolves during the thirteen-year period from 1987 to 2000. No unprovoked wolf attack on humans have ever been confirmed in the region. Furthermore, it seems unfair to measure the elk population based on how many we would like to hunt, rather than on how many are normal for the ecosystem. PCA’s undated webpage, written no earlier than 2002, says the elk population in Northern Yellowstone “is well within historical population levels.” Gray wolves help provide the balance.

Nachmanides wrote that “scripture will not permit a destructive act that will cause the extinction of a species”. (Sefer Ha-Hinukh, #529, 294, 545, citing Deut 22:6. Quoted by COEJL.) I hope that most hunters have the sense to appreciate the value and scarcity of what they take and to refrain from taking what should not be taken.