Grey Wolf paper

Running Head: AN OVERVIEW OF GREY WOLF 2

AN OVERVIEW OF GREY WOLF 2

Name

Course

Tutor

Institution

Date

Introduction

Grey wolves play a significant role in keeping the ecosystem healthy. Moreover, they can act as a buffer to the changes in climate. Their presence in the park makes it easy to preserve the deer and elk population. In addition, the carcasses of their prey add more nutrients in the environment and thus lead to the flourishment of plants (Newsome et al., 2016). Grey wolves are an endangered species that need to be protected. Saving the wolves means saving both complex and fragile ecosystems that most species rely on. The preservation of national heritage is the pride of every community/country.

The Impact of grey wolves in the Ecosystem

Apart from boosting the ecosystem, grey wolves are of great significance in boosting the ecotourism opportunities. For instance, the introduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the United States led to an exploration to individuals in and outside the United States. One of the amazing things is that wolves in rare cases target to eat livestock even when they are extremely hungry (Mech, 2017).

It is important to note that grey wolves are predator animals. This means that they go hunting for their prey. When there are no grazing animals for them to hunt, they end up hunting for sheep, horses and even cows. Sometimes, it is very difficult to determine whether the loss of livestock is as a result of wolf hunting especially in the process of compensation.

State Law Protecting Gray Wolves

There is an inconsistent legal protection for wolves. The act of Congress 2011 that led to the issuance of a delisting rule, the wolves were not listed among the endangered animals in Montana, Wyoming, some parts of Washington, and Idaho (Salvatori et al., 2020). In Washington, the gray wolf has been identified as one of the endangered species and receives protection under the state law of RCW77.15.120. The law protects them from killing, being possessed, any form of malicious harassment, and hunting. The penalty of illegal killing of gray wolves is $5,000 or being jailed for one year.

References

Mech, L. D. (2017). Where can wolves live and how can we live with them?. Biological conservation, 210, 310-317. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320717301441

Newsome, T. M., Boitani, L., Chapron, G., Ciucci, P., Dickman, C. R., Dellinger, J. A., ... & Ripple, W. J. (2016). Food habits of the world's grey wolves. Mammal Review, 46(4), 255-269. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12067?casa_token=cRflAAIVEqkAAAAA:Y1jjT8sgmMIwdbcPYBPvT8NjVoDr9EmyQrL99ceMELYnh7dR9GG7k6FwbzDYmvuSgQjkYBeVg2rMSFQa

Salvatori, V., Donfrancesco, V., Trouwborst, A., Boitani, L., Linnell, J. D., Alvares, F., ... & Ciucci, P. (2020). European agreements for nature conservation need to explicitly address wolf-dog hybridisation. Biological Conservation, 248, 108525. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632071931674X