Why can't white people get along with the animals too?
Answer, because most people are greedy and selfish and don't care about the environment.
Wolves help keep smaller animals under control and many small mammals eat plants and stop trees from growing.
Oh, now you've done it, Colin; you've sent me into essay-writing mode. ha ha
It isn't white people; it's agricultural people. As soon as we start raising crops and animals, we quit seeing wild animals as brothers and start seeing them as competitors. It's inevitable, and it happens all over the world. It happens on the Indian Reservation just down the road.
Your comment about wolves controlling rodents is true of coyotes and foxes, and probably somewhat true of the original, now extinct wolves around here. But it is not so much of the Canadian wolves they "reintroduced" back in the 80s. Those mostly feed on large ungulates, and they are very fond of cattle and sheep when they can get them. It's hard to blame them; animals don't understand property rights, and a calf is a lot easier to catch than an elk. I personally would classify these wolves as an invasive (sub)species. They aren't all bad, and I love hearing them howl when I'm out in the hills. But they probably don't belong here, and if I made my living raising cattle, I wouldn't want them around. Some common-sense game policies have allowed a reasonable coexistence, though: Wolves are protected in designated wilderness areas (and we're talking HUGE areas, hundreds of thousands of acres), but outside those areas they can be hunted at will. Wolves are very smart, and when this policy was implemented they very quickly learned to avoid people and places where people go, or to keep a very low profile when traveling through those areas. So, we still have a healthy wolf population, but conflicts with humans have almost disappeared.
I wish we could adopt a similar policy with grizzly bears. The local biologists would like to, but the federal government, prodded by big-city armchair "environmentalists," won't allow it. Dumb. Grizzly bears do belong here, but they frequently have no real qualms about killing and eating people. I don't consider myself greedy or selfish, and I do care very much about the environment. I also care about my family not getting mauled because we accidentally stumble onto a kill. Government policies have artificially inflated their numbers and taught them not to fear people, which is a dangerous situation. I don't think they should be exterminated, but I don't think allowing hunters to off a few of the more aggressive ones to instill the fear of man would be such a bad idea. A little hunting can be good for both species, in the long run.
The real problem is that good animal habitat is also good people habitat, and there are a lot of people. Sometimes I think the big-city policy makers forget that, even in Wyoming, there are no more blank spots on the map. Sometimes coexisting means there is less room for animals, especially the kinds that are inclined to munch on people and their possessions. It's kind of sad, but there you go.
OK, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
