Michigan Wolf Debate

Credit: U.S Fish and Wildlife

The Great Lakes Region has been the site of major controversy when it comes to Wolf conservation, and Michigan is no exception. Despite success in their population rebounding to better number, due to hunting and other policies their numbers are still unstable. All it takes it one disease and it could potentially completely destroy the population, so we need to continue to protect them instead of making money of allowing them to be killed.

An "endangered" species is, according to the act, any species "which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range," (excluding certain insects). Inclusion of range extends protection to animals that may be overall reduced in number, even if significant populations exist somewhere.

In the Lower 48 states, gray wolves now occupy about 10 to 15 percent of their historical range. Wolves used to roam almost everywhere but the southern U.S. east of Texas and south of Ohio. Today, in addition to the Great Lakes population, Rocky Mountain wolf packs roam parts of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, and a small group exists in Arizona and New Mexico.

We first need our permanent populations to increase in populations in order for wolves to expand their range and try to reclaim some original territory. This means putting the short term financial benefits behind the long term ecological benefits, which is not the way human beings think unfortunately. It will take a movement to show people why we will all benefit from protecting wolves for the time being, and just making people care about wolves.