In one case, there were elk going down onto the pavement to lick salt, laying there because it was warm, starving to death, and we re feeding them hay, Edward said. That s an unnatural way to manage the elk herds, he said. Colorado is home to about 200,000 elk and 600,000 deer. If wolves were reintroduced, they would not significantly lower ungulate populations, Edward said. But the wolves would affect deer and elk dynamically by moving them around and genetically by stabilizing the population.
Wolves drive deer and elk herds in much the same way a cowboy moves stock to new pasture.
This prevents locally over-dense concentrations of prey, Edward said, and limits overgrazing. The ungulates would be less likely to concentrate on easy terrain and tax the food supply. The tendency for wolf predation to increase the genetic fitness of prey species is well documented, Edward said. Wolves challenge their prey, they test their prey, he said. Edward described old film footage of a pack coursing through an elk herd.