Rob Wielgus (pictured in front) noticed something interesting when he studied reports of wolf attacks on sheep and cattle in the Northern Rockies. When wolves were killed to reduce livestock predation, the number of dead sheep and cows rose the following year. “It’s counterintuitive,” Wielgus, director of Washington State University’s Large Carnivore Conservation Lab, said of the study’s results. “People think, let’s kill the wolves and get rid of the problem. But it doesn’t work that way with carnivores. Sometimes, the punitive solution is causing the problem.” Shooting or trapping problem wolves, particularly the pack’s leaders, disrupts the pack’s social structure. “If you kill the alpha male and female, the pack fractures,” he said. “Instead of one breeding pair, you may have two or three”/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.