Latitude Theory (AlaskaLoneWolf)

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Two of China’s most innovative technology companies, Huawei and ZTE, are also two of its most controversial. With the telecom equipment makers expanding beyond China, governments have grown concerned that the companies could be used by Beijing to monitor their communications networks abroad.

National Park's gray wolves, one of the world's most closely monitored predator populations, are at their lowest ebb in more than a half-century and could die out within a few years, scientists said Friday.

The only gray wolf in California arrived after heading south out of Oregon last year while his brother headed east into Idaho, moves that sealed each of their fates.

Over 450 wolves shot dead in Idaho, Montana to date

 Hunters in Montana had shot more than 160 gray wolves as the season came to a close across most of the state Wednesday — a sharp increase from the last hunt in 2009 but still short of the state’s 220-animal quota.  

John Vucetich, a wildlife ecologist from Michigan Technological University, leads the wolf-moose Winter Study at Isle Royale National Park.

A new political party has launched on a single issue platform: all wolves must die.

The hunting of wolves in 30 Montana counties, including Lewis and Clark and Jefferson, will close today at a half hour after sunset.

"Inserting environmental policy changes into appropriations bills may be politically expedient, but it transgresses the process envisioned by the Constitution by avoiding the very debate on issues of political importance said to provide legitimacy," Molloy wrote. "Policy changes of questionable political viability, such as occurred here, can be forced using insider tactics without debate by attaching riders to legislation that must be passed."

[Original Article]

One might deduce from all this coverage over the past century—and the accompanying awareness about the necessity of wolf preservation— that the future of the species is looking bright.  Sadly, this is not the case, and the time wolves have left grows shorter every day: the time to act is now.

"Beyond four wolves, hunting success leveled off, and individual performance (a measure of effort) decreased for reasons unrelated to interference from inept hunters, individual age, or size. But performance did drop faster among wolves with an incentive to hold back, i.e., nonbreeders with no dependent offspring, those performing dangerous predatory tasks, i.e., grabbing and restraining prey, and those in groups of proficient hunters. These results suggest that decreasing performance was free riding and that was why success leveled off in groups with more than four wolves that had superficially appeared to be cooperating."

"Wolves aren’t as effective hunters as we think they are. That perception is premised on the notion that each individual contributes to the hunt, so there is an additive effect when the group is bigger. That is just not the case," said MacNulty, an assistant professor of wildland resources. "Individuals are responding to the threat of injury and death that large prey poses, so they are pulling back, making decisions to avoid the cost of injury."

The decision to kill two more wolves for preying on livestock could mean the end of the first Oregon wolf pack to successfully breed since efforts began to restore the predators.