7 Comments

1. 

   Johnny Sain on April 19, 2011 at 4:56 PM

   So, are you saying the solution to the problem here is to kill all the wolves as well as all other apex predators or any other critters that we deem unfit or a hindrance? Do you know what happens to an ecosystem when the apex predators are removed? I would really like to see some hard evidence regarding the percentage of livestock lost to wolf or other predation. I have hunted all my life and farmed livestock for a good bit as well and I hear the same argument here, where I live regarding coyote predation but the facts just don’t line up with the claims. Although not my cup of tea, I think wolf hunting needs to be permitted but regulated pretty tightly but I think that a call to vilify all wild predators is ridiculous.

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2. 

   Chuck on April 19, 2011 at 6:15 PM

   One, it’s a satire it was not met to imply wolves or any other predator should be wiped off the face of the earth. It only shows how the wolf got to its protected status today, a status where predators are given a higher value than humans..
   Two I do live in an area of Alaska where the wolves and bears have destroyed the moose population. Since predator control measures were almost ten years ago started I have watched the moose go from almost nothing to .a hunt-able population. Last year the unit I live in opened its first general moose season in ten years. This coming it will have a non-resident season. It took ten years of court fights with the wolf and gia worshipers to get where we are today. If you need scientific evidence contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Palmer Alaska and talk to them in person. They have some of the top big game biologist in the country. If Alaska is not enough check with Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Then go over to Wisconsin there the wolf population went from 25 a few years ago to 800+ today.The wolves brought into the Northern Rockies are not and were never an indigenous species to the areas they were brought into. If you have ever seen a pack of wolves take out a few caribou I think you would have a change of heart. The Northern Rocky Wolf population has far exceeded its target numbers yet they are still list as endangered. Thankfully congress has taken the unprecedented move and are taking some of the wolves off the ESA list and will put them under the state management. Something like three times Judge Molloy put them back under the ESA after USFW had them removed.

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3. 

   Johnny Sain on April 19, 2011 at 6:50 PM

   First, a satirical piece painting anyone that holds the wolf as anything more than a “killing machine” as a limp-wristed, high rise livin’ “Walter” is sure to draw fire. Second, I asked for facts regarding predation on livestock. I understand about the loss of game animals but I also know that an uncontrolled population of large herbivores causes a lot of problems as well. Yellowstone elk would be a good example. There needs to be balance, that is agreed. Your right, the wolves relocated to the northern Rockies are not the native SUB-species but wolves were indigenous to the region.
   I’m for biodiversity. I realize that total balance in the natural world is and never was possible, there are always up and downs in the populations of fauna but I do believe that there is a solution with the wolves and other large predators. Somehow the liberal “wolf protectors” and the majority of hunters need to come together. An open season would probably be the best way to save the wolf in my opinion.

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4. 

   Johnny Sain on April 19, 2011 at 6:53 PM

   Oh yeah, I would LOVE to watch a wolf pack on the hunt. It’s on my bucket list but will probably never happen.

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     Chuck on April 19, 2011 at 7:49 PM

     That is something you would only to see once it isn’t a pretty sight. About twenty years ago I watched a pack run a group of caribou in relays. They ended up taking several and only eat a couple they rest were left to die in the cold. Wolves will kill just to teach their young to kill. Ask anyone who knows wolves they will tell you wolves are killing machines. The wolves that were transplanted in the lower 48 states should never been brought into this country. They don’t have the natural foods sources their predecessors had. today their range is farm and ranches. A rancher who tries to protect his herd from becomes a felon if he does anything that would be considered harassing a wolf he doesn’t even have to shoot it, just chase it off.

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       Johnny Sain on April 21, 2011 at 8:00 PM

       Chuck, I took the wrong angle in my earlier comments so I’d like to add this; wolves ARE “killing machines”, that is what they are made to do. That’s why they teach their pups to do it, they are predators. I’ll leave you with this thought from Aldo Leopold:
       “Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. That is to say, you cannot love game and hate predators; you cannot conserve the waters and waste the ranges; you cannot build the forest and mine the farm. The land is one organism.”

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5. 

   Chuck on May 3, 2011 at 5:47 AM

   That is my point, you have a narrow band of people who place predators above the animals that feed people. In their mind predators are more important than animals that feed the world. If you raised chickens and a fox was eating them you would kill the fox. That is no different than those who feed their families deer or store bought meat.
   I don’t think you will find any place I have taken the position of destroying an entire population of any animal.

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