It’s not easy being a wolf in northern Minnesota.
Every year dozens of the animals die of starvation, disease, parasites, vehicle traffic and poaching.
But the No. 1 killer of Minnesota wolves may come as a surprise: agents of the federal government, acting with the full force of the law.
Widespread fencing is very detrimental to ecosystems, it could have an even more severe effect on local wildlife than just culling the wolf population. Along these same lines, this is why many eco-orgs support deer hunting (when regulated properly by state organizations); deer season is a stand-in for the natural predators that deer used to have to contend with and allows the deer population to exist without wreaking havoc on other areas of the same ecosystem that supports them.