Why would anybody want to hurt wolves?

When wolves were more common in the environment, ranchers would occasionally lose a sheep to starving wolves in the wintertime. They feared the wolf packs would decimate their herds, and so the wolf became the ranchers' "enemy." Old attitudes still hold over into today, when wolves are rare and a protected species. Wolves are very important in the ecosystem, helping to thin out overpopulated deer herds and eating old and feeble animals in the wild.