History of an Extermination
As recently as 30 years ago, the idea of reintroducing wolves to the American West would have been akin to suggesting it was high time smallpox made a comeback. Wolves were considered the worst kind of pests--dangerous threats to a rancher's family and livelihood.
As settlers migrated westward, they wiped out large numbers of wild game--bison, deer, elk, and moose--upon which the wolf depended for food. With its natural prey gone, the wolf turned to the sheep and cattle herds that now dotted the landscape.
In response to ranchers' pleas for help, government-sponsored extermination campaigns began in the late 19th century, offering generous bounties for wolf pelts. Westerners responded with zeal. In the ensuing slaughter, wolves were shot, poisoned, burned alive, dragged behind horses, and mutilated in the name of civic duty.
Little Red Riding Hood's nemesis, once found in almost every habitat north of today's Mexico City, was all but obliterated from the lower 48 states by 1930.
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