Today’s Solutions: December 08, 2023

Last Thursday, a howl of gratitude sounded from the endangered gray wolves of the US, after Federal protections were reinstated after being removed by the former administration. 

In a trend of environmentally positive action, Judge Jeffrey White of the US district court of Oakland, California ruled in favor of reinstatement, after finding that gray wolf populations would not be able to rebound without protection. The wolves in certain areas of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming remain under state authority, but in the other 47 states it will be illegal to hunt and kill these important animals. 

Some attorneys for not reinstating protections argued that these wolves were hearty enough to bounce back, but this fails to take into account active hunting by humans, which studies confirm is a major force threatening wolf populations. Grey wolves have been brought back from near extinction. Now that protections under the Endangered Species Act have returned, these animals have a fighting chance again. 

Keystone Wolves 

While they do pose an occasional threat to livestock, and a very very rare threat to people, these wolves actually play a vital role in their ecosystem. They are in fact a necessary predator that keeps deer and elk populations from overgrowing and overeating the important vegetation in their habitats. Additionally, scavengers such as crows, other carrion birds, and even grizzly bears benefit by eating the remains of wolves’ prey. They even reduce vehicle collisions in certain areas where deer are abundant and frequently cross busy roads.   

Not in spite of their ferocity but rather because of it, gray wolves play a pivotal role in the diversity of our American ecosystems and are a beautiful part of our natural history. 

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Listen to this fascinating piece of ambient music composed by stars

Though we can’t hear them, stars propagate some incredibly soothing soundscapes through the vacuum of space. And for the first time, music composed from ...

Read More

Reduce home food waste part II: The fridge

Food waste continues to be a huge problem all over the world. Luckily, according to the experts, you can help improve the global food ...

Read More

Pufferfish-inspired houses help lake village adapt to sea-level rise

We decided to dust off this older article with an incredible solution to sea-level rise.  Situated entirely on water, the lake village of Ganvie ...

Read More

MIT researchers develop cost-effective battery made of common materials

The environmental benefits of using electricity rather than fossil fuels to power our world goes without saying— however, the process of electrifying everything has ...

Read More