Wolf Wars [Paperback]

Hank Fischer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

The gray wolf-the most significant missing piece of the Yellowstone ecosystem-is back. Following an eco-political battle of epic proportions, the wolf has been returned to Yellowstone by the same federal agencies that methodically exterminated it more than sixty years ago. In Wolf Wars, Hank Fischer unfolds the intriguing story of how the Yellowstone wolf was hated into extinction, how a society came to appreciate the importance of predators, how the master predator's return will send a welcome "ripple effect: through Yellowstone's flora and fauna, and how conservationists finally prevailed in a decade-long political struggle with Congress, the courts, and the powerful livestock industry.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; 1st edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560443529
• ISBN-13: 978-1560443520
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Dogs & Wolves

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Important history of the wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone, January 4, 2009

By 

Ralph Maughan (Pocatello, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wolf Wars (Paperback)

I am writing this 14 years after wolves were restored to Yellowstone Park and central Idaho.

Fischer's book describes the events leading up to the restoration in great detail. Some may find this tedious, but in the years since wolves were restored much mythology has been generated about the event.

Wolf supporters and opponents have often forgotten or ignored who the principle characters were and why the reintroduction took place the way it did.

Those interested in the facts need to read this book and keep it as reference.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Woof, woof, December 29, 2000

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wolf Wars (Paperback)

WOLF WARS is the short (170 pages), inside story by conservationist Hank Fischer on the restoration of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. Curiosity inspired me to buy the book after visiting the park last October, during which time I thought I saw a wolf crossing a snow-covered clearing way off in the distance. It was definitely a large canine. Well, perhaps it was only Sergeant Preston's dog King on a mission for the RCMP.

To make a short story even shorter, WOLF WARS briefly summarizes the successful effort to eradicate the wolf from the western US at the turn of the last century, then reviews the recent, also successful, federal effort to re-establish wolves in that same region. The best chapters are the first, which describes the live capture of wolves in Alberta, Canada, and the last, which describes their subsequent release into YNP in 1995. In between, Fischer recounts ad nauseam the 20-year battle fought in the US Congress and the courts to design, popularize, legitimize and implement the plan to bring the animals back in the face of rabid opposition from the region's cattle and sheep ranchers. This relatively lengthy section focusing chiefly on government infighting was truly eye-glazing stuff, and best left to bureaucrats-in-training.

Yes, reading this book did teach me something - always a good thing in itself. But, a simple 10-page pamphlet would have sufficed.