Dave Mech (pronounced Meech) is a wildlife research biologist who has studied large carnivores, especially wolves, and their prey. See Dave’s other site for information related to his official duties and career. Mech’s strong vocational interest in wildlife research and conservation is matched by several avocational interests. This site expands on some of those subjects, including wildlife photography, preservation of wild lands, human ecology, evolutionary biology, and social justice.
Mech View of Wolf Management (June 13, 2018)
Now that wolf populations have recovered biologically and have been delisted from the U.S. Endangered Species List in MT, ID, and WY wolf management there has reverted to those states and are managed just like bears, elk, deer, etc. Both legislative and ESA-based attempts to delist the wolf elsewhere are pending.
I believe that the way wolves should be managed is which ever way each state decides. Individual citizens have individual opinions about wolf management. State legislatures and Departments of Natural Resources must balance all these many conflicting views while ensuring that their wolf populations survive but conflict minimally with humans. As long as the wolf is no longer endangered in a particular state, I support that state’s approach to managing its wolves.