The article is written for and by Rancher interests. Not a big deal but take it for the bias that it is. I really don't think the impacts to livestock ended up being as great as the data suggested. If your a livestock producer and you lose one animal I'd guess that's not very comforting.
BTW Rock there's a lot of DNA taken from harvested wolves around Idaho and Montana that tells a story different that the one your going with. Wolf DNA shows that around 60% of the wolves taken did not come from descendants of the reintroduction but rather migrants from Canada. Wolves were coming to us no matter what and the process of reintroduction allowed us to kill wolves and save livestock. Had the reintroduction not happened they would have received full protections under the ESA.
Historical wolves killed in Montana were just as GIANT as they are today.
