Post by muskyhusky on Oct 21, 2008 18:10:06 GMT -6
This past week, Oct. 12-18, was Wolf Awareness Week. Wolves have been on my favorite-things-on-the-earth list for as long as I can remember. I am sure that not everyone shares my sentiments. There has been so much controversy regarding wolves in some regions of the United States that simply saying the word “wolf” at the local diner will ignite a heated debate.
Wolves have been driven to the brink of extinction through loss of habitat, hunting and by being killed by ranchers protecting their livestock. The wolf used to occupy every state in the nation. Currently they only occupy about 5 percent of their historical range. In 1973, both gray and red wolves (the two wolf species found in the United States) were among the first species listed under the newly created Endangered Species Act, which gave them federal protection. This protection allowed the wolves to survive as a species however they did not recover to anything near their former glory.
Then in 1995, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park began. Sixty-six wolves were captured in Canada, transported and subsequently released in Yellowstone and Central Idaho.
Since that time, wolves have thrived in those areas with 2005 estimates showing a total number of approximately 900 wolves. The wolf population has enjoyed a growth rate of about 20 percent a year in the region since the reintroduction.
Wolves have been listed, de-listed, and re-listed on the Endangered Species List over the past few years. Currently they are on the list and enjoy some level of Federal Protection. However, that status is tenuous at best and remains a point of contention for many people.
In honor of Wolf Awareness Week I thought I'd share a few wolf facts:
• Gray wolves (or timber wolves) can reach a height 38 inches at the shoulder, a length of 6.5 feet from nose to tip of the tail, and a weight of 170 pounds which make them the largest of the wild canids. They are a carnivorous animal that live roughly eight years in the wild (longer in captivity). They have an estimated population of about 10,000 in Alaska and another 5,000 or so in the Lower 48. They live and hunt in packs of four to eight -- a father and mother wolf, their pups and a few young subordinate wolves. They have a complex communication system that includes their famous howling.
• The red wolf, a smaller cousin of the gray wolf, reaches a height of only about 26 inches at the shoulder and weighs in at 80 pounds at the most. These smaller wolves hunt either alone or in small packs. They are mostly nocturnal and are more of a warm weather wolf found mostly in the Southeastern United States. There are only about 100 of these little wolves left in the wild and another 200 or so in captive breeding facilities.
• Wolves have the largest range of any mammal except the caribou.
• A wolf pack's territory can be up to 1,000 square miles.
• Wolves may spend as much as a third of their lives on the move, staying on the move for up to 10 hours a day.
• Wolves can reach running speeds up to 40 miles per hour and can sustain that speed for about 20 minutes. [/color]
Sometimes I can be found outside at night with the full moon, and when no one is looking I howl out loud hoping to communicate to my wolf brothers that in the face of all of the controversy that surrounds their lives I stand and say "long live the wolf!"
• Tug Gettling is the director of the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter.
www.heraldextra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285066&Itemid=17&mosmsg=Thanks+for+your+vote%21
Wolves have been driven to the brink of extinction through loss of habitat, hunting and by being killed by ranchers protecting their livestock. The wolf used to occupy every state in the nation. Currently they only occupy about 5 percent of their historical range. In 1973, both gray and red wolves (the two wolf species found in the United States) were among the first species listed under the newly created Endangered Species Act, which gave them federal protection. This protection allowed the wolves to survive as a species however they did not recover to anything near their former glory.
Then in 1995, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park began. Sixty-six wolves were captured in Canada, transported and subsequently released in Yellowstone and Central Idaho.
Since that time, wolves have thrived in those areas with 2005 estimates showing a total number of approximately 900 wolves. The wolf population has enjoyed a growth rate of about 20 percent a year in the region since the reintroduction.
Wolves have been listed, de-listed, and re-listed on the Endangered Species List over the past few years. Currently they are on the list and enjoy some level of Federal Protection. However, that status is tenuous at best and remains a point of contention for many people.
In honor of Wolf Awareness Week I thought I'd share a few wolf facts:
• Gray wolves (or timber wolves) can reach a height 38 inches at the shoulder, a length of 6.5 feet from nose to tip of the tail, and a weight of 170 pounds which make them the largest of the wild canids. They are a carnivorous animal that live roughly eight years in the wild (longer in captivity). They have an estimated population of about 10,000 in Alaska and another 5,000 or so in the Lower 48. They live and hunt in packs of four to eight -- a father and mother wolf, their pups and a few young subordinate wolves. They have a complex communication system that includes their famous howling.
• The red wolf, a smaller cousin of the gray wolf, reaches a height of only about 26 inches at the shoulder and weighs in at 80 pounds at the most. These smaller wolves hunt either alone or in small packs. They are mostly nocturnal and are more of a warm weather wolf found mostly in the Southeastern United States. There are only about 100 of these little wolves left in the wild and another 200 or so in captive breeding facilities.
• Wolves have the largest range of any mammal except the caribou.
• A wolf pack's territory can be up to 1,000 square miles.
• Wolves may spend as much as a third of their lives on the move, staying on the move for up to 10 hours a day.
• Wolves can reach running speeds up to 40 miles per hour and can sustain that speed for about 20 minutes. [/color]
Sometimes I can be found outside at night with the full moon, and when no one is looking I howl out loud hoping to communicate to my wolf brothers that in the face of all of the controversy that surrounds their lives I stand and say "long live the wolf!"
• Tug Gettling is the director of the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter.
www.heraldextra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285066&Itemid=17&mosmsg=Thanks+for+your+vote%21
