Joe Rogan on wolves: what the evidence says · JRE #2262
SUBJECT: WOLVES
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
which is in the 1990s, has significantly impacted the elk population. And now it's actually more difficult to get a tag.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
The northern Yellowstone elk herd did decline sharply after gray wolves were reintroduced in 1995 and 1996. The National Park Service reports the winter count was about 17,000 when reintroduction began and fell below 10,000 by 2003, roughly a 41 percent drop, then reached a low of 3,915 in early 2013 before partially recovering. A large before-after-control-impact study found elk recruitment (midwinter juvenile-to-female ratio) fell 35 percent in wolf-colonized herds and that elk numbers dropped more than 50 percent in some areas after reintroduction. The NPS and researchers attribute the decline to a combination of factors, including wolf and other carnivore predation, heavy hunter harvest of prime-age females, and drought, so wolves are a significant but not sole cause. The claim that the decline exceeded 40 percent and made tags harder to obtain is consistent with the data, though it overstates wolves as the single driver.