“We still killed 297,000, but we killed 400,000 the year before.” This article explains the complex relationship between all critters in Yellowstone Park
“The number of Yellowstone cutthroat trout spawning at Clear Creek peaked at more than 70,000 in 1978 and fell to 538 by 2007. The decline is attributed to predation by nonnative lake trout, low water during drought years, and the nonnative parasite that causes whirling disease.” YNP website with GREAT video:
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/yellowstone-cutthroat-trout.htm
“The density and success of osprey greatly declined, as they’re unable to prey on lake trout, which live at inaccessible depths. In fact, while there were an average of 38 osprey nests at Yellowstone Lake from 1987-1991, only three were observed from 2013-2017. And those birds have been leaving the lake to forage in large lakes of the upper Snake River, at least five miles away. “That’s one of the most staggering changes,” Koel said.
Eagles, otters, ospreys, bears, wolves, humans…the entire ecosystem is affected and connected.
The struggle continues…to eradicate invasive, predatory Lake Trout in Yellowstone Lake and save the native cutthroat.