[tw04]

It only seems complicated in-so-far as ranchers who are making millions off running cattle at least partially on public lands are concerned they may take a 5% hit in their profits to the occasional cattle lost to wolves (which could be prevented by actually having staff following them vs just letting them roam).

Other than “but I want to make even more money” I haven’t heard a lot of arguments against.

[idiotsecant]

This is wildly over-simplifying the issue. Obviously you'd not be ok with me releasing wolves into your back yard, the difference here is only one of population density. The issue has subtleties and soundbite reductiveness does nobody any favors.

[tw04]

I’d be perfectly fine with it, I would scare them off and that would be it. These aren’t grizzly bears. Wolves aren’t hunting humans unless they have literally no other options. I have no doubt they’d happily feast on deer vs finding out if the warning shot was a bluff.

We have wolves in my state. I’ve never once been concerned about my safety when it comes to wolves.

[dang]

Please don't take HN threads into flamewar. The GP comment did a great job of avoiding this, which is what other commenters should do too.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful. Note these:

"Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

[pookha]

Plenty of ranches (privately owned) use livestock waste for farming and to improve the soil. You're arguing that we should allow wolves -- that the government introduces -- to wipe out the main component of their ranch (livestock). In my eyes that's an insane proposition and it directly benefits the big industrial operations that frequently compete with these newer styled ranches. In the end you'd have more run-off and more pollution and a lot more carbon because the soil would be shot (thanks to monocrop farming).

[tw04]

> to wipe out the main component of their ranch (livestock).

Wipe out??? Do you think they’re introducing 40k wolves or do you just have no idea how wolves work?

There is literally 0 chance the livestock is wiped out, even without any management by the government. And there will absolutely be management of the population.

[ffgjgf1]

> to wipe out the main component of their ranch (livestock). In my eyes that's an insane proposition

In my eye this claim you’re making is more than insane. Wolves are not going to wipe out anything. We can spend time coming up with totally unsubstantiated imaginary scenarios like this but it’s not really helpful.

Wolves are extremely skittish animals who are only really willing to come near humans when they are desperate and starving. A few guard dogs and/or other commonly used approaches are perfectly sufficient to deter them in 99%+ cases

[freedomben]

Yep, also the free range and organic ranchers are the ones who are hardest hit, which makes it more expensive.

This issue is just way more complicated and nuanced than most people want to make it. As an environmentalist I have a natural reaction against the ranchers, but having dove into many of these types of issues, I've been amazed at the complexity and second, third, and fourth order impacts and unintended consequences. Hot takes on HN are aggravating to read for someone who is actually informed on this and other issues.