Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy
Tundra, I want to make sure I understand this correctly. Each wolf will kill 25-40 caribou per year?
If my grade 3 math serves me well, that means a pack of ten will kill 250 per year. How many packs of ten are running around? At an estimated population of 4200 wolves in Alberta (Wikipedia) how can anything survive that?
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A '09 Alberta study calculated an average pack size of 8 wolves would kill a deer (0.30) /elk (0.06) /moose (0.03) at least every three days. That's an average minimum of 122 ungulateskilled per year /pack, or 15 animals per wolf per year.
http://www.fur.ca/files/Density,%20D...%20Summary.pdf
I believe the 4200 wolf population estimate is from 2001. A conservative growth projection is 20% per year. The Alberta wolf population could easily be as high as 26,000!
Think about this number. 26,000 wolves at 15 kills per wolf=
390,000 deer/elk/moose killed by wolves every year!!
The trend cannot continue for long. Alberta will run out of prey in short order, and associated hunting opportunity for humans, if a wolf cull is not implemented immediately. Remember Yaha Tinda.... the 4400 strong elk herd was reduced to less than 400 in a matter of a few years, all due to wolf predation....
I recently asked an SRD carnivore biologist what the present population is. The answer was "TOO MANY"....