A Wisconsin resident commenting on the Wall Street Journal article of two weeks back that I reviewed on this blog.....Wisconsin Wolves and people...can they co-exist together?

Your article about gray wolves in Wisconsin ("Gray Wolves Rebound, to Neighbors' Unease," U.S. News, May 29) gets some important things right: the story of wolves' success in readapting to northern Wisconsin, and the anger and fear some people feel toward them. However, by skewing this story with antiwolf anecdotes and by not clarifying how small the wolves' impact is on livestock and deer, you lose the chance to show a more truthful picture.


People who live and hunt up here know that if you send a dog into woodlands with an active wolf-pack, the dog will be at risk. And wolves, like coyotes, do occasionally kill livestock, for which owners are reimbursed. Some people are afraid of wolves, despite the fact that there's no record of wolves attacking humans in Wisconsin. (Black bears are a real problem, since they're much more tolerant of human contact than wolves and are likely to show up on your deck or at your campsite if you're not careful.)

The big truth you miss is that the hatred of wolves here comes mainly from those who see themselves as the losing competitor for Wisconsin's other wildlife, mainly deer. Many believe that first dibs on deer should belong to hunters who have paid good money for deer tags, weapons, ammunition and travel. The "neighbors' unease" you record is really the familiar narrative of human intolerance of competition for resources we perceive as ours by inherent right.

David Foster
Boulder Junction, Wis.