Idaho’s GOP Gov. Butch Otter, flush with withdrawal of federal protection from wolves, has just signed legislation creating a gray wolf “disaster emergency” in his state. Why the visceral hatred for canis lupus in the land of “Famous Potatoes”? “We have a biological fear of snakes and spiders, and there is some of that with wolves. They are powerful animals and they are capable of things with which we are uncomfortable, although you cannot find evidence of an attack on a human,” said Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of America. “We want to control. Remember the old adage about ‘taming’ nature? That is why we destroyed the wolf and the grizzly bear.”
Pacelle has written a bestselling book titled, “The Bond: Our Kinship With Animals.” It explores humankind’s bond with animals, animal intelligence and animals’ cognizance of human feeling. He is due in Seattle on Wednesday.
He sees an “incredible contradiction” in treatment of animals. ”Exploitation and harm” are represented by factory farms raising chicken and cattle, and puppy farms that raise (in feces and hunger) family pets.
At the same time, there is kinship and protection: The United States is home to no less than 10,000 animal protection groups. The Humane Society of the United States has 11 million members.
Butch Otter wants to kill 550 of the 700 wolves that have repopulated Idaho, but the Natural Resources Defense Council has worked two decades to reintroduce and protect wolves. “Whale Wars,” on Animal Planet, has drawn millions of viewers and made heroes of Sea Shepherd Society volunteers who obstruct Japanese whalers in the South Ocean. (The hunt was aborted this past winter, and may be stopped altogether.)
Pacelle has the credentials of a crusader. He has shooed wild buffalo back into Yellowstone National Park, as hunters and game wardens readied a slaughter if they crossed outside its boundary. He visited, in prison, NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who was serving a sentence for dog fighting and the killing of animals.
He marvels, for instance, at how clearly some pets understand their “masters.”
“Dogs are great at reading people; it goes to the bond, the connection we have,” he said. “There is even some preliminary evidence of biochemistry to the bond.” Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, suffering post traumatic stress disorder, sleep better at night when they have a dog for company, Pacelle said to support his argument.
Pacelle sees a few negatives to the bond. People make “reckless decisions,” such kids wanting a rabbit at Easter and then discovering that the animal needs care. The Great Recession has caused tension and “behavioral problems” that have caused some – not many, but some – Americans to relinquish their house pets. Shelters are crowded. “It had an impact with horses as well,” said Pacelle.
The movement toward humane treatment of animals began in the late 19th century, with extermination of the buffalo and extinction of the passenger pigeon, and what Pacelle calls “the vast liquidation of wildlife and resources.” The movement’s triumphs range from return of seals to New York Harbor … to an unprecedented concentration of Right whales (once nearly extinct) off Cape Cod … to the Washington initiative that outlawed hound-hunting of cougars and bears.''
“We’ve had continuing struggles every year in Olympia over that initiative, but we keep fighting — and we have public support,” said Pacelle.
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Pacelle has written a bestselling book titled, “The Bond: Our Kinship With Animals.” It explores humankind’s bond with animals, animal intelligence and animals’ cognizance of human feeling. He is due in Seattle on Wednesday.
He sees an “incredible contradiction” in treatment of animals. ”Exploitation and harm” are represented by factory farms raising chicken and cattle, and puppy farms that raise (in feces and hunger) family pets.
At the same time, there is kinship and protection: The United States is home to no less than 10,000 animal protection groups. The Humane Society of the United States has 11 million members.
Butch Otter wants to kill 550 of the 700 wolves that have repopulated Idaho, but the Natural Resources Defense Council has worked two decades to reintroduce and protect wolves. “Whale Wars,” on Animal Planet, has drawn millions of viewers and made heroes of Sea Shepherd Society volunteers who obstruct Japanese whalers in the South Ocean. (The hunt was aborted this past winter, and may be stopped altogether.)
Pacelle has the credentials of a crusader. He has shooed wild buffalo back into Yellowstone National Park, as hunters and game wardens readied a slaughter if they crossed outside its boundary. He visited, in prison, NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who was serving a sentence for dog fighting and the killing of animals.
He marvels, for instance, at how clearly some pets understand their “masters.”
“Dogs are great at reading people; it goes to the bond, the connection we have,” he said. “There is even some preliminary evidence of biochemistry to the bond.” Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, suffering post traumatic stress disorder, sleep better at night when they have a dog for company, Pacelle said to support his argument.
Pacelle sees a few negatives to the bond. People make “reckless decisions,” such kids wanting a rabbit at Easter and then discovering that the animal needs care. The Great Recession has caused tension and “behavioral problems” that have caused some – not many, but some – Americans to relinquish their house pets. Shelters are crowded. “It had an impact with horses as well,” said Pacelle.
The movement toward humane treatment of animals began in the late 19th century, with extermination of the buffalo and extinction of the passenger pigeon, and what Pacelle calls “the vast liquidation of wildlife and resources.” The movement’s triumphs range from return of seals to New York Harbor … to an unprecedented concentration of Right whales (once nearly extinct) off Cape Cod … to the Washington initiative that outlawed hound-hunting of cougars and bears.''
“We’ve had continuing struggles every year in Olympia over that initiative, but we keep fighting — and we have public support,” said Pacelle.
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