22 wolves killed in Michigan wolf hunt 2013. The bagger legislature thumbed their noses at We

[Crepuscular]

66. Nobody is suggesting that Wolves be exterminated

in the context of the Wolf hunt in Michigan, which is the topic of this thread. The links you provided make for some entertaining reading but they largely deal with whether wolves should be treated as an endangered species. Wolves don't meet the criteria for that in Michigan, which is why they were de-listed. Frankly, whether they should be reintroduced in the Scottish Highlands or what has occurred in Alaska or Yellowstone is not really germane to this discussion, other than for mild curiosity.

The question is should wolves be managed as other wildlife populations are managed and if the answer to that question is yes, then the next question is who should be responsible for managing that population.

In Michigan, the legislature has decided that the Natural Resources Commission should be the ones who have jurisdiction over managing wolves as a population. The NRC looked at the negative interaction that has occurred and came up with a plan that could reduce that negative interaction in 3 specific areas of the UP, while at the same time posing no threat to the sustainability or viability of the Wolf population in the UP. That plan set a quota for removing just over 5% of the Wolf population and resulted in around 3% of the existing population being removed. I understand that some people want zero Wolves to be killed, just like some people want zero deer to be killed or zero Cows to be turned into Big Macs and they will never be willing to accept anything but total protection an allowing the population to expand indefinitely, regardless of any potentially negative consequences. But part of responsible Wildlife management is to evaluate populations and set reasonable limits for their maintenance. That is essentially what has occurred in Michigan.