Here’s How Big A Problem Wolves Are For Cattle Ranchers [Infographic]
A visual representation of our earlier plea to stop shooting wolves.
We got a lot of heat for this essay about problematic wolf-hunting laws in Wyoming. Which, fine! Glad we could start a discussion. As a followup, here’s a nice visual representation of all the threats facing cattle in the United States–if you’ll notice, wolves are not exactly on the top of that list. Much of the motivation for the laws allowing wolf-hunting in states like Wyoming (though this is national data) come from an assumption that wolves are a major problem for cattle ranchers–that wolves are responsible for significant so-called “unintended” cattle loss. “Unintended” cattle loss, by the way, is the term the USDA uses for cattle who die before they are killed in slaughterhouses.
The data does not support that assumption.
This data comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the infographic was made by the Sierra Club.