Posted: 06/17/2013
By Brenda Peterson
The federal government's proposed delisting
of the wild wolf is an environmental regression, not only for the
wolves, but also for next generations--who in the future may only see a
CGI wolf in films, not loping wild through our forests. News of the
federal abandonment of wolf protection is a haunting reminder of the
devastating war against the wolves
waged in earlier centuries. Before federal protection, wolves were
hunted to extinction: by airplanes in Alaska, poisoned, trapped, and
shot on sight throughout the West. As a New York Times op-ed
asks, "Have we brought back wolves for the sole purpose of hunting them
down?" Here's a reminder of the unsustainable, anti-wolf culture that
we'll revert to, if we allow this proposed delisting to stand.
In 1993, I was in the Far North, reporting on the Alaska Wolf Summit
and the aerial shooting of radio-collared wolves. One of the wildlife
managers advised me, "Take off your press badge." Another advised, "Come
see how we really manage endangered species up here--in the what's left
of the Wild West."
In a Last Frontier hotel bar adorned with deer and elk trophies, I
silently observed a small but very powerful group of Alaska's Board of
Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials swaping hunting stories and
ridiculing the Summit protesters for their signs: "Don't Kill Wolves on
our Public Lands!" and "Respect the Wolf!"
Without my press badge in that Fairbanks bar, I was, invisible--after
all, only a woman. The real world of federal and stage wildlife
management is dominated by men with deep ties to hunting, ranching, and
agribusiness. In many Western States, hunting licenses fund most of the
wildlife programs--a conflict of interest so obvious, but rarely
reported. Some federal and state wildlife managers only grudgingly admit
scientists to their inner circles because of the Endangered Species
Act. Their fervor that night was reserved for talk of "wolf harvests"
and "caribou calf crops," of "lethal management," and "sustainable
yield" to assure higher populations of big game for hunters.
I was dismayed at the wildlife managers' sense of entitlement,
authority, and control over the natural world and all other animals. In
the smoky haze of that Fairbanks bar, it was like watching wildlife
managers play poker with the fates of other species. I forced myself to
remain quiet, staring up at a gigantic moose head trophy.
It didn't seem to matter to these wildlife cronies at the Wolf Summit
that statistics didn't support their politics and 80 percent of
Alaskans identified as "non-consumptive wildlife supporters." The
wildlife managers were the "alpha" males driving all wolf management
policy. After the Wolf Summit, the state of Alaska declared a
"land-and-shoot aerial hunting" of wolves that led to widespread
slaughter of wolves from planes.
In 1993, only 10 percent of the U.S. population were hunters. In 2013, the USFW reports that only 6 percent
of Americans are hunters. "Hunters are 89 percent male and 94 percent
white," the report notes. Fishing and bird-watching are more popular
than hunting. So why are our wildlife policies still so skewed in their
support of hunting agendas?
Much--and little--has changed for the wild wolf since that 1993 Wolf
Summit. In 1995, wolves were granted federal protection and wolf packs
successfully reintroduced in Yellowstone and throughout the West. Wildly
popular, the wolf-reintroduction programs in Yellowstone and the
Northern Rockies still provide huge tourism income. Wolf biologist, Cristina Eisenberg, author of The Wolf's Tooth, notes that since wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone, scientists have documented
"rapid recovery of over-browsed aspen, willows and cottonwoods, stream
bank stabilization in eroded streams, and a dramatic increase in
biodiversity of songbirds."
Welcoming wolves back to their rightful habitats has restored our
public lands. It has also restored something in our national psyche: a
sense of balance and humanity. We can generously share with these other
"keystone predators" who nourish the entire ecosystem.
The delisting of wild wolves is premature and scientifically unsound.
For years, Republicans have tried to gut the Endangered Species Act;
but why is the Obama administration supporting such unenlightened
wildlife policies of the past? Do Democrats need Western State senators
so desperately, that they'll sacrifice environmental ethics--and the
majority of Americans who support wolf protection?
"This is politics versus professional wildlife management," former Director of the USFW, Jamie Rappaport Clark
says. "The service is saying, 'We're done. Game over. Whatever happens
to wolves in the U.S. is a state thing. They are declaring victory long
before science would tell them to do so."
One of the wildlife managers at the Alaska Wolf Summit told a story
that still haunts me these ten years later. "My Grandaddy was a
trapper," the man said proudly. Once his Grandaddy found a fierce wolf
with his paw clamped shut in the metal teeth of a trap. "'That wolf just
stood there looking at me,' my granddaddy said. 'He just kept staring
at me and wagging his doggone tail. That wolf wagged his tail like
that--until I shot him.'"
The return of wolf management to Western states still trapped in
19th-century frontier mentality is irresponsible and short-sighted. We
are in the 21st century. The forests are not our farms. Wildlife is not a
"crop" to be "harvested." Wolves are top predators who restore,
balance, and protect our wild lands. They are our future allies, not our
foes.
It's time for the majority of Americans to tell hunters and ranchers
that it is not the Last Frontier for the wolves. It's time the feds and
states listen to the majority of this country who support wolf
protection--because wolves are what is most Wild about our West.
Over one thousand wolves
have been killed in the wolf-hunting seasons in Montana, Idaho,
Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. As one of the more visionary wildlife
managers told me when wolves, "Forget wolf control. How about a little
self-control? The wolf is the real hunter. We can learn from wolves, if
we can just keep from shooting them."
Public comment on this delisting:
Natural Resources Defense Council
Wolf Watcher: Take Action
Brenda Peterson is a National Geographic author who has covered wolf reintroduction for The Seattle Times and in her memoir, Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals. Her new book is Seal Pup Rescue and her new novel is The Drowning World.
For more: Brenda Peterson Books
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