Taking a shot at wolf hunters

Re “The big bad wolf,” Opinion, April 30

The removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list should be celebrated. But I can’t celebrate. High-ranking politicians, such as Republican Gov. C.L “Butch” Otter of Idaho, utter unconscionable comments about wanting to be the first to kill wolves -- and now wolves are being slaughtered like it was 1900.

The claim that the gray wolf is decimating the elk, deer and moose populations is laughable; wolves, like other predatory animals that hunt in packs, single out the weakest of any herd and, as a result, increase the strength and vitality of the populations over time. Besides, big game, as any wolf biologist will tell you, contribute to only part of the wolf diet.

As the wolves are killed, we are slowly killing the best part of ourselves, the part that is still wild and free. Have we lost our connection to the freedom wilderness provides? Lee Underwood

Long Beach

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Only a childish mind still believes the gray wolf is big and bad.

This is what we have here -- infantile males proving they’re not afraid of the big bad wolf. The infantile Bush delists the gray wolf before it is appropriate to do so and lets men destroy them.

This is a terrible insult to the environment and decades of reintroduction efforts. To kill just because you can kill is immoral in the extreme.

Geri A.

Mellgren-Kerwin

Burbank