Akela wrote:
Letter to the editor: Your article was unjustified in criticizing environmentalists for claiming that more wolves on Vancouver Island are killed by hunters than are born each year. You stated that this claim was disproven by recent studies that indicate that the total number of wolves on Vancouver Island has remained roughly constant for 20 years. But you failed to account for the fact that, fearing the extinction of this wolf population, environmentalists have been introducing new wolves into the Vancouver Island wolf population for 20 years.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument in the letter to the editor?
(A) Environmentalists have been successfully maintaining the wolf population on Vancouver Island for 20 years.
(B) As many wolves on Vancouver Island are killed by hunters as are born each year.
(C) The population of wolves on Vancouver Island should be maintained by either reducing the number killed by hunters each year or introducing new wolves into the population.
(D) The recent studies indicating that the total number of wolves on Vancouver Island has remained roughly constant for 20 years were flawed.
(E) The stability in the size of the Vancouver Island wolf population does not warrant the article’s criticism of the environmentalists’ claim.
Environmentalists' claim: More wolves are killed by hunters than are born each year.
Article criticising E's claim: Recent studies indicate that the total number of wolves on Vancouver Island has remained roughly constant for 20 years.
Letter to Editor against the article: You failed to account for the fact that, fearing the extinction of this wolf population, environmentalists have been introducing new wolves into the Vancouver Island wolf population for 20 years.
The argument in the letter (that you failed to consider intro of new wolves)
is against the article (that wolf population is stable)
that criticises the claim of Es (More wolves are killed by hunters than are born each year).
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument in the letter to the editor?
(E) is correct.
(E) The stability in the size of the Vancouver Island wolf population does not warrant the article’s criticism of the environmentalists’ claim.
This is what the argument is saying - that the article states that population is stable but that does not mean that the environmentalists’ claim is false because more wolves are introduced each year.
Rest of the options are incorrect.
(A) Environmentalists have been successfully maintaining the wolf population on Vancouver Island for 20 years.
This is not the conclusion of the argument. This is not the reason the author wrote the argument. The author wanted to say that the article's criticism is not correct.
(B) As many wolves on Vancouver Island are killed by hunters as are born each year.
It seems more wolves are killed than are born each year.
(C) The population of wolves on Vancouver Island should be maintained by either reducing the number killed by hunters each year or introducing new wolves into the population.
The author does not comment on "what should be done".
(D) The recent studies indicating that the total number of wolves on Vancouver Island has remained roughly constant for 20 years were flawed.
The argument doesn't say that. The numbers have remained constant.