March 1, 1997
Many statements made in "Protecting Predators" (SN: 11/30/96, p. 344) were contrary to the trends apparent to most inhabitants of the Rocky Mountain West (from southern New Mexico to northern Alberta). In our part of the West, large predators are on the increase. Grizzlies and wolves feast on live cattle and sheep at will.
Moreover, the decline in large predators in the last century was caused by extensive federal and sometimes state control programs. The predators were killed because they were interfering with human activities and economic pursuits similar to those of our neighbors in the East, who generally lack our extensive federally managed lands.
Timothy J. Morrison
Meeteetse, Wyo.
You indicated that in order to support a genetically healthy population (2,000 adults), wolves require 400,000 to 1 million square kilometers of living space. The State of Minnesota (210,000 km2) supports a wolf population of 2,000 to 2,200, which is confined to the northern half of the state.
The article's low estimate is an area larger than the State of Montana, and the high estimate would take in all of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and most of Idaho.
Is this the stuff Mark Twain had in mind when he claimed there were "lies, damned lies, and statistics"?
David Blinn
Cloquet, Minn.
For the record, whenever someone shoots an animal of any kind out of season (or contrary to any other hunting regulation in effect in that jurisdiction), he or she has crossed the line from being a hunter to being a criminal -- specifically, a poacher. You do a great disservice to the millions of law-abiding, ethical hunters on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border by using this all-too-common misrepresentation.
Hunters are not criminals, and poachers are not hunters!
N.A. Ball
Winnipeg, Manitoba
In "Surprising pair of diabetes genes debuts" (SN: 12/7/96, p. 359), you state, "Mutations in the two genes do not appear to be responsible for the more common, noninherited [italics mine] forms of diabetes."
I must take issue with the assertion that the more common forms are noninherited. There is considerable evidence that the more common forms have a heritable component to their etiology.
Jeffrey Roseman
Professor of Epidemiology
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Ala.
Table of Contents -- March 1, 1997
