Extra Credit Opportunity with Gary Fergusson

So far, I haven't seen anyone from our class at Gary Ferguson's events. Too bad. Here's a photo of Gary taken yesterday in Hells Canyon. He's playing a wild steelhead that weighed just over eight pounds. His lecture on the Yellowstone Wolves tonight was absolutely stellar. I hope you'll read his book for extra credit. It's a quick read and dispels so many myths about wolves you'll never think the same way about them again. For instance, did you know that wolves are one of the only large predators—one of the only animals in the world—aside from humans—who adopt the offspring of others? That they run daycare schools during summer rendezvous? That wild dogs pose a greater threat to wildlife than wolves in Montana (3,500 wild dogs were shot last year in that state). Cougars take far more elk than wolves do in all western states. About 200,000 people come to Yellowstone each year just to see wolves and spend about $32,000,000 annually in the park and just outside it. Wolves will hunt only what their parents teach them to hunt. . . They hunt by 'prey-imaging,' which is why in Minnesota, for instance, the wolves never did hunt any of the carribou that the state imported in large numbers.