Around the campfire, wolves cast pretty big shadows, said Hank Fischer, the regional representative for the Defenders of Wildlife. They re just so evocative of wildness. Our world is changing so much, people just yearn for some touch of wildness. Animals like wolves let them do that. Critics feared that people would be attacked.
Biologist dismiss that concern, saying wolves are among the most reclusive of predators.
They have been known to stand back and watch even when humans crawled into their dens and handled their pups. Hunters argued wolves would decimate game herds. Biologists agree that game animals will be killed and hunters will be affected. One estimate is that the 100 or so wolves necessary for recovery in the three areas will kill 1,500 to 2,000 elk a year. But they say the loss is unlikely to have any substantial impact on total game populations.