Some people enjoy hunting for sport. Hunting an animal that is rare is more interesting to some people. Other people think that having fewer predators, like wolves, will mean more deer, elk, and other prey animals for them to hunt. This may be true. Having too many prey animals can cause problems too. They can eat too much of their food and starve, or damage plants so that they can't grow back. Diseases spread a lot faster when there a lot of animals too.

Other people want to protect their sheep or cows from being killed by wolves. Owners of animals can usually get money from the government if their animals are killed, but some farmers and ranchers would rather protect them.

People argue about whether it makes sense to kill wolves. Both sides may talk about facts, but they probably have very different feelings about wolves that will not be changed by facts alone.

What facts would help you make up your mind?

Gray wolves have actually been hunted for more than 10,000 years. One of the biggest reasons is that wolves like to eat sheep and cows which we like to have on our farms. So to stop the wolves from eating our farm animals, we hunted them. There are other reasons that people hunt wolves such as for their fur and occasionally for food. Also, some people hunt wolves because they think it’s fun, but there are more and more laws against hunting wolves now. Since we’ve killed pretty much all the wolves in some parts of the country, there are too many of the animals that the wolves eat like deer which is a problem.

They tend to eat livestock (cows, sheep, etc.), and farmers don't want their animals eaten.