The historical treatment of native wildlife in the United States is dismal. Since the 1500s Europeans coming to America brought domestic livestock (cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.) and century-old attitudes that all predators should be exterminated, and all other wildlife not utilized by humans should be marginalized; these attitudes moved West. 

Primary targets were apex predators such as wolves, bears and cougars. Apex predators are critical to healthy natural ecosystems and their historical near eradication changed the Western landscape. In the 1800s settlers, bounty hunters and market hunters killed wildlife in huge numbers by shooting, trapping and poisoning.

From about 1905 to today the U.S. government became a wildlife exterminator, primarily for the agricultural-livestock industry, according to “The Epic Story of Animals & People in America” by Dan Flores.  Back then the government’s favored extermination method was strychnine and later other poisons — a horrible death.  Collateral death of other wildlife species around a poisoned bait carcass was enormous.

A 2012 taxonomy report concluded that modern gray wolves returned to North America about 20,000 years ago.  

Yet, by 1960 U.S. wolves had been driven to near extinction. In 1974 gray wolves were federally listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.  A recovery program reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995.

Wolf recovery is politically charged. Many Coloradans who voted to reintroduce wolves did so for scientific and ecological reasons, not “emotions” as claimed by the livestock industry.  According to Colorado State University, in the Northern Rocky Mountain states wolves account for less than 1% of confirmed cattle losses. To me, cattle are only a profit/loss commodity to ranchers, nothing more.  And, no, I do not eat beef because of its worldwide negative environmental and climate-changing impacts.

Melinda McWilliams
Fraser resident