Yellowstone’s Wolves: A Debate Over Their Role in the Park’s Ecosystem

In 1995, 14 wolves were delivered by truck and sled to the heart of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, where the animal had long been absent. Others followed.Since then, a story has grown up, based on early research, that as the wolves increased in number, they hunted the park’s elk herds, significantly reducing them by about half from 17,000.The wolves’ return and predatory dominance was believed to have had…