I've read through this thread quite a bit. In regards to the whole "misunderstood wolf" thing, I think wolves are misunderstood, but most people don't actually hate wolves nowadays
First off I do not support killing wolves. Wolves impact the livestock industry very little, rather, they are more likely to impact smaller farmers in the immediate area.
In 2015 the USDA inventoried 112.2 million cattle in the U.S.4 Of that number, 4.5 million died from all unwanted causes. Most of those deaths, 3.6 million (3.2 percent of U.S. cattle inventory) stemmed from health-related maladies, weather, and theft. Mortalities from all predators amounted to 280,570 cattle deaths, representing a mere 0.3 percent of U.S. cattle inventory—with wolves taking 0.009 percent of the U.S. cattle inventory. Figs. 1 and 2
Source:
https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/def ... 9Final.pdf
If that's the case then more preventive measures should be encouraged, the kind that won't hurt anyone. It stops wolf predation before it happens, or at least significantly minimizes it. It is also relatively affordable and may deterrents can be made at home (or sometimes all you need is human presence).
To demonstrate that nonlethal techniques can be effective at large scales, we report a 7-year case study where we strategically applied nonlethal predator deterrents and animal husbandry techniques on an adaptive basis (i.e., based on terrain, proximity to den or rendezvous sites, avoiding overexposure to techniques such as certain lights or sound devices that could result in wolves losing their fear of that device, etc.) to protect sheep (Ovis aries) and wolves on public grazing lands in Idaho. We collected data on sheep depredation mortalities in the protected demonstration study area and compared these data to an adjacent wolf-occupied area where sheep were grazed without the added nonlethal protection measures. Over the 7-year period, sheep depredation losses to wolves were 3.5 times higher in the Nonprotected Area (NPA) than in the Protected Area (PA). Furthermore, no wolves were lethally controlled within the PA and sheep depredation losses to wolves were just 0.02% of the total number of sheep present, the lowest loss rate among sheep-grazing areas in wolf range statewide, whereas wolves were lethally controlled in the NPA.
Source:
https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/articl ... ogin=false
I think all ranchers would greatly appreciate it, but most importantly why wouldn't we want to strive for better animal welfare? Wolves in the lower 48 still have a vulnerable population in many areas. For example the total wolf population is 6,000 in the lower 48 (
https://www.fws.gov/home/feature/2007/g ... egion2.pdf). Their ENTIRE population is smaller than the majority of towns in the US and wolves in the lower 48 are once again listed as endangered in some regions, so wolves are still very vulnerable and at this point in time I don't think population control is necessary (in the lower 48) unless there is concrete evidence that wolves are an actual threat to people and livestock. Which so far there isn't...
In 2021 wolves were threatened with 90% eradication in the state of Idaho.
It will allow hunters and private contractors to kill 90 percent or more of the state’s wolves, which number around 1,500 at last count. The decision comes just months after the species was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species Act...
And they were eradicated from the lower 48 altogether; so the threat of complete extinction within the region is still real. There is no reason to assume why it won't happen again with the current political battle wolves are in.
While it is true that many people might use the term 'misunderstood' in excess, and wolves in Canada and Eurasia have stable numbers, that statement didn't just come out of thin air. I believe wolves are misunderstood, or at least misinformation is deliberately spread if that makes sense.
Dogs are statistically more dangerous to people and livestock, and have a much higher population. Does this mean we should kill dogs en masse?
Aside from plain statistics and evidence, I do not support trophy hunting, or "Judas wolves", the killing of nursing wolves, or mass killing wolves via helicopter all in the name of "trophy hunting." This is purely based on my morals and that it's just inhumane and unfair to an animal... I own two Siberian huskies so of course I feel this way about trophy hunting. Wolf or not, no animal should in that position. As a wolf-lover it's my duty to love and defend wolves, that is the entire point of being a wolf lover.
(Oops, sorry for making such a long and winding post).