Yes, you may sign your question "naively" but it is a good question.

My best attempt to answer this question would be to say that wildlife is
the property of the citizens, a public resource, and it is managed by
state and federal agencies entrusted with many kinds of decisions relating
to this valuable resource. In the interest of avoiding chaos and different
people working at cross purposes to one another, a law was created that
prohibited release of any wildlife unless proper permits were obtained from
the public agencies entrusted with management responsibilities.

In theory, the agencies who make decisions on approving releases of wildlife
consider whether diseases might be transmitted to wild populations, whether
the species to be released might be harmful to native fauna, e.g. an invasive
exotic species, or whether there are concerns of human safety, agricultural crop
damage or other societal concerns that would make the release undesireable.

When agencies release wildlife they consider these same factors and, if there
are questions about societal concerns, a public process is followed that
provides an opportunity for all views and concerns to be aired. This is how
the "chaos" part mentioned earlier is theoretically avoided.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov

On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, 'Devorah' D Wisti wrote:

> Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 12:19:08 -0700 (PDT)
> From: 'Devorah' D Wisti <nyneve at u.washington.edu>
> To: Kelly Mcallister <mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov>
> Subject: Re: Wolves on the Olympic Peninsula
>
>
> why is releasing a wolf into its former range an illegal act?
>
> naively,
>
> Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD (in transition between Seattle and NYC)
> nyneve at u.washington.edu
> Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow
> The American Museum of Natural History, New York City
> Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
> Love the creator? Then protect the creation.
>
> On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, Kelly Mcallister wrote:
>
> > Well, all I can say is, wolves have been considered extirpated from the Olympic
> > Peninsula for somewhere close to one hundred years. Wolf sightings are usually
> > very difficult to evaluate. In at least two instances that I am aware of, wolf/
> > dog hybrids have been found in the wild in Washington, apparently released by
> > their owners. I don't know anything about private citizens releasing wolves.
> > Clearly, it would be an illegal act.
> >
> > Kelly McAllister
> > Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
> > Olympia, Washington
> > Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov
> >
> > On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, Grad, Andrea E. wrote:
> >
> > > Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 15:52:48 -0700
> > > From: "Grad, Andrea E." <agrad at helsell.com>
> > > To: "Tweeters (E-mail)" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> > > Subject: Wolves on the Olympic Peninsula
> > >
> > > Okay, I'm sure there were birds there too, for the required bird element ...
> > >
> > > Report from a fisherman friend, from this past weekend:
> > >
> > > "The Hoh [River] was hot this weekend. We limited for Summer run on Friday. I hooked into 2 kings that just trashed my steelhead gear. It was fun.
> > > The most amazing thing is we saw 2 wolves on the river. They were big.
> > > I guess a guy in Sequim released some 10+ years ago."
> > >
> > > I would be interested to hear from our WDFW contributors as to how unusual this sighting is.
> > >
> > > Andrea Grad
> > > Alki
> > > agrad at helsell.com
> > >
> >
> >
>
>