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505-555 Level|   Weaken|         
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ANALYSIS


Given:
Area of habitats conducive for gray wolves has reduced a lot. (Inference: gray wolf population likely cannot be increased in these areas)
But trying to re-introduce gray wolves in other areas from where they were hunted out existence is not sensible ( Inference: earlier wolves were hunted in such areas and because of the hunting they ceased to exist there)

Conclusion: Trying to reintroduce gray wolves in areas where they will ONLY face human hostility (will be hunted ) is immoral.

PRE-THINKING

Missing Link:

The author’s reasoning rests on the thought that the gray wolves will face ONLY enmity from humans. That is, these areas where the humans hunted the gray wolves out of existence will not be good for the animals because they will be hunted out again. And subjecting them to such pre-known end is immoral.

Assumption: The author assumes that the way the humans hunted the gray wolves earlier, they will again hunt them this time around – what happened in the past will happen again

Weakening the argument:

What if something is different this time around which prevents the indiscriminate hunting of gray wolves by humans? In that case re-introducing the gray wolves in such areas will not be immoral.

Weakener : Now there are new rules and regulations prohibiting the hunting of gray wolves in areas where they were previously hunted.

ANSWER CHOICE ELIMINATION

(A) Effective laws against the hunting of gray wolves have been enacted.
(This is in line with our pre-thought weakener. Correct Choice)

(B) Ranchers, farmers, and hunters still have an ingrained bias against gray wolves.
(This supports the conclusion)

(C) By the 1930’s bounty hunters had exterminated most of the gray wolves in the United States.
(This talks about some past time period when majority of the gray wolves were killed in the US. This choice does not tell us anything new. We already know that there are areas from which the wolves were hunted out of existence. If anything , this choice supports the conclusion.)

(D) Programs for increasing the gray wolf population are not aided by federal laws that require the licensing of hunters of certain predators.
(This choice says that there aren’t laws stopping indiscriminate hunting to support gray wolf re-introduction programs. This choice strengthens the conclusion)

(E) Suggested programs for increasing the gray wolf population have been criticized by environmentalists and biologists.
(This choice just reaffirms - using third party opinion- what the conclusion says – it is not right to re-introduce gray wolves in such areas where they were hunted out earlier.)
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

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