The status of the wolf in the United States is becoming more secure. The wolf has made a comeback in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. It is currently being reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. In Alaska, sanctioned kills are vehemently discussed. Hunters in Michigan are complaining that the number of wolves living in the forests are killing too many deer. Since 1975, wolves have been spotted in Wisconsin. After many years of having a bounty on their heads, the last bounty was paid in 1965 in Minnesota, and the wolves have returned. It is time to begin managing this population to control the deer herds and to reintroduce wolf packs as a top-line predator in other parts of the country.
The wolf's range has been impressive. At one time, wolves ranged throughout most of the North American continent; they have ranged from central Mexico north to Alaska. Wolves have also made most of the Eurasian continent--from Saudi Arabia and central India north to the Arctic Ocean and from the rock of Gibraltar to the Japanese isles--their home range. The wolves' ability to adapt to changing climates and ecosystems is fantastic. This ability until recently has allowed the wolf to be the dominant predator of the North American Continent (11:3). In the last 200 years, the population and range of the wolf has changed. When the United States expanded westward, settlers wiped out the local wolf packs to prevent them from preying on livestock (12:25). In reality, wolves will kill and eat large hoofed animals. Their primary diet consists of ungulates, hoofed animals like bison, mountain sheep, elk, deer antelope and domesticated livestock like sheep, cattle and goats (11:5). Wolves living in the arctic regions, in the tundra, have a diet of mainly caribou, musk-oxen and other large prey. Wolves in Alaska eat more moose than other animals (11:6). In Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the wolf's primary food is white-tailed de...