Over the past 13 years, the federal government has spent $27 million on the restoration of gray wolves in the United States. Western states have also spent money, although it’s hard to identify the costs related to wolf reintroduction specifically versus things like public land management and rangers generally. With about 1,500 gray wolves now living in the lower 48 states as a result of this program, the publicly owned animals have a value of about $18,000 each: about what it would cost to buy a regular thoroughbred race horse.

Please, government officials unto whom we entrust the responsibility of wise management of public resources: do not allow folks to kill our valuable public property for anything less than $18,000 cash in hand.