Man, not wolves, kill strongest for sport

Letter to the Editor

• 18 hrs ago

Thank you for publishing Maurice Clements’ column on big, bad wolves ravaging Idaho’s backcountry.

Mr. Clements states “Traditional trophy deer and elk habitats have been sacked”. Wolves chase down their prey, they don’t coward behind trees or behind rocks and shoot their prey.

Killing form yards away with a bullet is not a sport, it’s simply murder.

Wolves kill to survive, taking the weak and elderly so the strong survive, maintaining equilibrium in nature. Man slaughters the biggest and best for bragging rights and “trophies” to hang on walls.

Trophy killing breaks down the strong genic pools, so if herds are depleting, don’t blame wolves, blame yourself for your disregard to the balance in nature.

Yellowstone is an example of the balance wolves bring to the environment. Since the return of wolves, over-grazing has stopped, vegetation returned, trees have grown, reducing flooding. Birds and other wildlife not seen in years have returned, proving that wolves are essential.

Wolves are intelligent. They’re smart enough to stay away from man, while the “superior” predator man chooses to kill rather than use proven deterrents to educate wolves to stay away from livestock.

The removal of carcasses and ill livestock from fields, and not grazing in known wolf territory should be common sense, still ranchers choose to cry wolf rather than attempt to live with wolves.

Before man, deer, elk, etc., survived with wolves. Herds were plentiful, and strong. It’s man’s interference that disrupted the balance in nature. Man’s lust to spill the blood of wildlife and his fear of wolves, a true competitor, has caused the near extinction of wolves.

Man must use his intelligence, forgetting tales of monstrous wolves. We cannot allow America’s wilderness to fall silent because some choose to kill rather than accept and live with our wolves.

* Irene Sette, New Milford, New Jersey

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