Wolves in United States of America: GSE800 Attitudes to the Environment;

Name:
University:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:
Wolves in United States of America
Introduction
The research paper is a critical analysis of U.S.A wolves. An environmental problem that is discussed alongside, wolves is climate change. The effect of the later to the former is brought forth. The paper also explains why and for whom is climate change a problem to. Lastly, values and attitudes held by the general public towards the environment are discussed in details.
It is worth noting that wolves ranged across North America, till the arrival of European settlers. The settlers raised livestock; conflict then emerged between the wolves and the settlers leading to killing of wolves. Two species of wolves are found in North American as well as in United States of America-gray wolf plus a number of its subspecies and the red wolf. The former used to inhabit the entire U.S.A, Mexico and Canada, the later was found in southeastern of U.S.A (Mech & Luigi, 2007)
It is worth mentioning that the greatest threat facing wolves in U.S.A is conflict with human population especially over loosing livestock. Ranchers kill those wolves that attack their livestock. Nonetheless, another threat that is facing wolves is that of climate change, the central focus of discussion herein.
Mech & Luigi, 2007 documented that environment face a great challenge from those who do not seem to ‘see` the value it posses. For this reason, they attempt to convert nature into something else they deem to be of value. For instance, contraction of dams, residential houses, roads as well as other infrastructure, this negatively impact on living organisms-wolves.
Ecology of American Wolves
The two species of wolves found in U.S.A are the gray wolves and the red wolves. Wolfs constitute the largest numbers of the canine family. They stand at between 26 to 32 inches at the shoulders, 4.5 to 6.5 feet long from nose to tail weighing between 55 and 130 lbs usually males being heavier and taller as compared to females. Life expectancy is between seven to eight years in the wild but there are exceptions, some live for over ten years (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2010).
Wolves feed on ungulates such as elk, moose caribou deer, rabbits, beaver as well as other smaller preys. They similarly scavenge and can eat dead animals. In Alaska, there population is between 7,000 and 12,000, in the lower states, the population stands at approximately 5,000. Statistics show that in the entire world, their population is about 200,000, down from 2million in previous years.
As stated previously, wolves were common in the entire North America, conflict with human led to a sharp decline in their population. At present, their range has been restricted to Canada and the following states in U.S.A; Wyoming, Michigan, Idaho, Montana Wisconsin, Alaska and Minnesota.
Wolves inhabit almost all parts of the northern hemisphere, this include plains, mixed forest, hardwood surroundings...