comment: >
  
  I mean, no, I'm sorry bro, it would be better to say alpha wolves are in fact, not a thing. It would be more accurate to say it's a fun little fantasy simple minds have embraced.
context: From article:
  
  Three wildlife conservation groups are adding $10,000 to a reward for certain information about an Oregon wolf killed illegally last fall in Klamath County.
  The Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands today announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction for the illegal killing of a collared male grey wolf in Klamath County. >
  
  I am reassured when there are good people in the world doing things like this. We are in the middle of a culture war. It's important to fight back. The increased reward may make all the difference. >
  
  I dunno, if some wolf was killing my livestock I'd probably do the same thing. >
  
  You'd have insurance that paid you more than the meat on the hoof.  Healthy wolf populations manage healthy deer populations make for healthy forests.
  Maybe if you had livestock you should actually care for it if you give a shit. >
  
  And healthy wolf populations kill the coyotes who make up the MAJORITY of livestock deaths from wildlife >
  
  I just want Hargeovebandid to tel me his real name and address so I can collect $10 000. >
  
  That pack has the potential to really help the repopulation of wolves in Southern Oregon/Northern California. People need to understand wolves are not callous killers. They hunt and kill to survive. These ranchers that pay ridiculously low rental rates to the Federal Government for summer grazing land think every wolf will kill every cow they have grazing. Look into Bureau of Land Management grazing contracts. It will probably piss you off seeing how little these guys pay. Wolves were there first. >
  
  Looks like it costs about 1250 an acre in AZ which is like 1/4 the average. Damn son. >
  
  When the 2014 Cliven Bundy Ranch stand-off over grazing fees happened it was over 1 million dollars in rent and unpaid fees that he had not paid. His lack of payments reached back to 1990. He is not typical for ranchers. Most pay their fees and consider the grazing fees as part of the cost of raising cattle. >
  
  I believe it was the guys from the Dutton ranch. >
  
  So help me, if it turns out that some dipshit fan of that show went out and clipped a wolf... >
  
  I worked as a Fish and Game Warden for many years and without a doubt our greatest tool was tips from the public. I hope they find the bastard and throw the book at them. >
  
  Yup. People who do this kind of shit like to brag >
  
  Wolf had a paw injury from inadvertently being trapped and had started to prey on livestock instead of wild game. My uneducated guess it was likely a rancher/farmer. >
  
  Or a wolf serial killer.  The Oregon Wolf Strangler. >
  
  When does that come out on Netflix? >
  
  "Canine Homicide: The OR103 Killer" >
  
  And it’ll be 30 minutes of real content, somehow stretched out over eight 60 minute episodes. >
  
  "Donald Norman appeared to be a quiet Klamath County resident.  He even watched his neighbors dogs when they would leave for holiday.  Unbeknownst to Oregon law enforcement there were more than just wolves prowling the woods at night.  On August the twenty-seventh 2001 Donald would take the first of his many victims lives.  Donald strangled a protect Grey Wolf to death making him one of the world's most evil killers."
  dramatic theme music >
  
  There are some real fucking pieces of shit out there >
  
  Look for a Ram pickup with bumper stickers. >
  
  My buddy works for the Forest Service, and when MN allowed people to hunt wolves again, due to encroachment on farmland and residential areas, pointed out to me this:
  Hunting wolves was allowed because of pack displacement dynamics. When an old wolf who can no longer retain their level of status, alpha or otherwise, they might be left by the pack. This new lone wolf can no longer hunt animals the way a pack hunts deer or what have you, as they are solitary. The new lone wolf typically scavenges to the end of its short life cycle. However, if there is opportunity created by an unsupervised pet or livestock, it will act on its desperation and go for the easiest meal. 
  When MN legalized hunting wolves, it was to eliminate these lone wolves who no longer bring balance to the ecosystem, but prey on livestock and pets. Where humans fuck it up is when Jimmy goes out into the woods with his lifted truck adorned with plastic testicles, and decides that he is the ultimate “alpha”. Jimmy then proceeds to shoot the actual alpha wolf of a thriving pack, instead of the real threat, which is the lone wolf. When fuckface Jimmy does this, he destroys the pack, and creates more lone wolves, which exasperates the problem. 
  Dont be like Jimmy. >
  
  You should be aware that the study and resulting literature that led to concepts such as the "Alpha Wolf" and the "Lone Wolf" have been abandoned by the author that conceived them. It's bad science and you shouldn't base your opinions on ecological policy on them.
  Per Dr. L. David Mech: "The concept of the alpha wolf is well ingrained in the popular wolf literature, at least partly because of my book “The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,” written in 1968, published in 1970, republished in paperback in 1981, and currently still in print, despite my numerous pleas to the publisher to stop publishing it. Although most of the book’s info is still accurate, much is outdated. We have learned more about wolves in the last 40 years than in all of previous history."
  The sad truth of the matter is that legalizing hunting of wolves is done primarily for two reasons: trophy hunting, and the protection of invasive livestock animals for profit. >
  
  However the fact remains that the author was indeed correct in his initial pack dynamics research if a bit incomplete.
  It would be better to say that there is some discussion among fringe elements concerning canid Pack Dynamics and Alpha Male status in wild wolves. 
  Further Dr. Mech never said the alpha male “wasn’t a thing”. He said the dynamic was more nuanced and inclusive of the alpha female and her ability to lead and make decisions for the Pack than he had at first observed.