State and federal wildlife agencies are not listening to
anyone but themselves, sportsmen and ranchers, but then they always have
been such from their inception. Ranchers and sportsmen irrationally
hate wolves. Few listen to science, reason or outsiders. Wolves do not
need to be "managed" in general; maybe problem wolves or packs, and
nonlethal means should be mandatory, in place and tried.
Oregon
has set up such a wolf policy program, and I think we can look to
California to set up a wolf-friendly policy. Wolves will manage their
own populations. Killing them in general is just crazy for a number of
reasons: It does not make any ecological sense and it disrupts their
families and likely will cause problems the wolf killers allege, but not
proven. They should not be managed by the states mentioned because it
is political management of a species. They should not be delisted
because they have not yet filled up the many viable niches still
available in their old ranges.
I have been observing for
years that talking to the wolf haters is like talking to the far-right
and not-so-far-right Republican brain, which makes up and lives in its
own universe and is impervious to logic, science, facts or reason.
Wolves should not be in the hands of state management, especially in
states of such proven hostile mentality as Montana, Idaho, Wyoming,
Wisconsin. Before a state can manage the wolves therein, they should
have in place a policy like Oregon.
“Whenever and
wherever men have engaged in the mindless slaughter of animals
(including other men), they have often attempted to justify their acts
by attributing the most vicious or revolting qualities to those they
would destroy; and the less reason there is for the slaughter, the
greater the campaign for vilification.” — Farley Mowat, naturalist,
conservationist and author of “Never Cry Wolf.”
Roger Hewitt
Great Falls