This July, an international consortium of behavioral and
brain scientists at a Cambridge, England, conference wrote "The
Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness." This document asserts that
animals possess states of attentiveness and sleep; have decision-making
abilities; can experience emotional states much as humans do; and, like
us, are conscious beings possessing awareness and exhibiting deliberate
behaviors.
From my own doctoral research on behavior, development
and the effects of domestication of dogs compared to wolves, coyotes and
foxes, I can assert that wolves are fundamentally no different from our
domesticated canine companions. They show devoted care giving behavior
to their young and to injured companions and mourn their death. Just
like the family dog, wolves show fear, anxiety, depression, joyful
anticipation, affectionate greeting and playful invitation.
Millions
who love their dogs have a natural affinity and respect for the wolf.
Others reject "big, bad wolf" folklore because they know something about
wolf intelligence and highly evolved cooperative pack society and
social dynamics.
Many Minnesotans who embrace such sentiment and
ethics voiced opposition to legislation to legalize the trapping and
trophy hunting of wolves. Nineteen days after Gov. Mark Dayton signed an
bill approving this legislation, the state's Department of Natural
Resources announced that it would accept public comments directed to its
website, but that there would be no final public hearing.
Just because wolves are wild, why should they not enjoy the same protection under state animal welfare statutes as our dogs?
That
wolves are now essentially state property, no longer protected by the
government as an endangered or threatened species, does not erase the
fact that the wolf is of great emotional, aesthetic and spiritual
significance as a symbol of all that is wild and free. Wolves serve as a
sacred totem to traditional Native Americans — many of whom voiced
opposition to Minnesota's wolf hunting and trapping legislation.
With
a reported 23,000 hunters and trappers paying $4 to enter the lottery
for a wolf killing license to the Department of Natural Resources,
wolves will help replenish state coffers.
Wolves are regarded as
state property on public lands, but public trust is betrayed when the
protection of wolf and wilderness is sacrificed for the pleasure and
profit of an anarchistic minority whose ethically unexamined activities
are sanctioned by the laws they enact to justify and protect what they
deem culturally acceptable. Anarchism, the antithesis of democratic
process, flourishes when policymakers dismiss public polls and
referendums because of the demographic bias of larger urban versus rural
populations.
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