[sarchertech]

>they expect me to explain themselves

But the experts did explain themselves. They’ve published numerous studies on how small wolf populations impact the larger ecosystem.

It’s not even that hard to understand. Yes Yellowstone is large, but there are a finite number of elk herds and the wolves move to follow and prey upon the elk herds.

Wolf packs can kill 20 elk per year per wolf, there are 120 wolves inside the park and 500 immediately around the park wandering inside it and killing elk that wander outside.

At the peak there were 18k elk in the park and now the numbers are down to 2000. There’s plenty of evidence that the decline is a direct result of the wolves.

Controlling elk population has tons of 2nd and 3rd order effects which have also been well documented.

[mousethatroared]

Well there you are! Good for you for writing that, and not the self-righteous snark I was replying to.

The beauty of HN is that when someone doesnt know, or is wrong, we don't assume bad intent, but explain with good intentions at heart.

It's literally in the rules

[ForOldHack]

Here on HN we are looking at the effects and beliefs of the people reading the studies? What effect does this have on us?

Many downvoted comments etc. ( and much thanks for explaining the population numbers!)