How Wolves Became Yellowstone’s $82 Million Tourist Attraction
From OutsideOnline.com:
On January 11, 1995, approximately 17,000 elk bedded down in Yellowstone National Park. When they woke up a few hours later, a new scent was in the icy air: wolves. It had been 69 years since the last Canis lupus roamed the world’s first national park. As a result of hunting, government-sponsored eradication programs, and human expansion, wolves were all but extinct in the U.S. But on January 12, 1995, eight wolves from Canada were moved to Yellowstone in an effort to curb the exploding elk population that was destroying vegetation other animals needed to survive. It was a controversial move: area ranchers worried the new carnivores would prey on their livestock.
