Sorry Cindy, I'm referring about all the wolf kills in Alaska--some in Denali area. I get these reports because I'm on Alaska alerts. All the wolves in Iowa were killed long ago for the same reasons humans want to kill deer for reasons you give. In Alaska government officials and locals kill wolves with the excuse that wolves eat caribou and moose. Well duh--that is the natural order. Many times this excuse for government killing of wolves protects sport hunters who want to kill the largest and best of the herd, while wolves eat the weakest to survive. Cindy, are you willing to apply your good reasoning for killing deer that are extirpating native plants and destroying habitat to humans that do the same thing? Humans do far more damage than any animals. Hmmm we don't have the large predators in Iowa any more because humans killed them all. I guess I truly have a different opinion than you do. Phyllis Phyllis, I am very puzzled by your message. I haven't seen ANY reports in BIOSCIENCE or in any other conservation journals about wolf overpopulation causing ecological problems, whereas I see regular reports about ecological problems caused by deer overpopulation. Of course it would be better if we still had large predators other than humans to help control the deer population in more of the eastern U.S., but in many places we do not. Are you really saying that my support for killing deer when they are extirpating native plants and destroying habitat for many other wildlife species is the same as supporting the killing of wolves?? I really hope I misunderstand you. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp