We recently saw NBC air an outdoors program showing a NRA lobbyist shooting an elephant in the face and then celebrating with champagne. Given the outcry over the show, he may want to check out Montana where hunters can make a real killing with a $19 license to kill up to five wolves. That is slightly above $3 a wolf. The problem is that the state has issued 6000 permits which would allow the killing of 30,000 wolves. The entire wolf population however is down to 625 in the entire state.
These seem to be pure thrill kills since no one is going to use the meat and you will be able to kill as many as five wolves.
To assist in what looks like a slaughter in the making, the state extended the period to hunt the wolves. If just roughly 2 percent of the hunters succeed, Montana will have wiped out the entire population of wolves. One can only conclude that that is the purpose of this overkill policy. In the meantime, people are clamoring to get in on the kill . . . and to be able to say that they helped wipe out a species in the state for less than the cost of two movie tickets.
The Center for Biological Diversity released the video below on the hunting program.
Try this: leave wild animals alone. Or is that too much to ask?
It’s been a while since I 1st viewed these talks.
There’s one in there you may wish to skip as the speaker as trouble choking up.
One that I found very relevant to forest management is Steve Brink talk.
I haven’t seen the pictures from aftermath of California’s forest fires this year, but Steve has some interesting pictures from the past up til a few years ago.
http://toonclips.com/600/7637.jpg
Maybe we could start the Save the Elk & Wolves Foundation?
It’s mission statement would be to get congress to allow the feeding of DC polecats, Wallst Bankers/Insurance creeps & Lawyers to wolves so they don’t have to eat so many Elk.
It’d likely be a win-win-win-win.
What do you think?
🙂
Ya, I’m not sure what to think about that delisting issue, but I was using the point of the video about regardless of people’s emotional feelings we still have to rationally manage wildlife for future generations.
I’m not sure if some people realize just how big of an animal some of these wolves are.
Not all are huge, but you see from the pictures above many are 2,3 times larger then a male German Shepherd.
These wolves are impressive as hell in person.
Me, a full grown man wouldn’t stand a chance against just one of those wolves in the wild unarmed.
They are cool in person though.
If you’ve ever seen the after effects of what a kid looks like after just a dog mulled the kid’s face should know to be damn serious about protecting the Kid & the Animal from trouble that none of us want!
Brittius:
I dont know, if I was a wolf I would steer clear of ferral hogs. those are some mean dam animals.
Owning a wolf would be pretty neat but you would need a couple or at least some dogs for company. Big dogs.
The wolf is the only mammal that carries the special gene allowing uninhibited diversity. All domestic dogs come from the wolf. Breeds of dogs can easily be bred for all types of reasons, and the hybrid is instant. The Russians have bred bomb sniffing dogs for that SPECIFIC purpose. Their sense of smell is superior, but just for explosives! And, unlike any other breed of bomb sniffers, which have to be pointed to smell an object, these incredible animals TAKE THE LEAD. They smell, bark once, and sit.
Our culture has gone more than a little nuts w/ creating breeds. In just the last 50 years the number of breeds has tripled, I believe. Most of this info is from a very good National Geographic doc. So, w/ this in mind, we need to protect the original gene of this animal w/ some instincts and qualities better than us humans.
Professor Turley, you know I love ya man, but the tactic of rolling out the proverbial injured kid in a wheelchair isn’t working on me & the articles are devoid of enough pertinent facts to base one’s opinion on.
But I’m glad you posted this none the less as it’s a great chance for others
to think more deeply about these issues.
I am a friend to wildlife, nature, people & pets.
A supported a good govt wolf program, not the piece oh crap we have today.
Just like when I presented you guys the Dog Whisper video to make you better owners for your pets, here below is a link you really should study if you truly give a dam about wolves, wildlife, national parks, forest.
Brittius, you have some good ideas, but people taking a wolf as a family pet is a horrible idea.
A wild animal will always remain a wild animal!!!!
(Signed: A Ray’s Arrow in Steve Irwin’s heart!!)
http://www.defendruralamerica.com/DRA/Wolves.html
I knew a wolf once, she was a magnificent animal and friendly. A sh*tbird of a vet kept her by herself in a cage in his backyard in the middle of a major city. Ostensibly for the purpose of wolf studies.
That poor creature was so lonely; it made you want to cry.
Humans always want to control their environment much to their regret often times. I think this is one of them. And the elk, deer and antelope population will suffer for it. But maybe not since hunting of those beasts is ongoing.
If Dick Cheney hears about this it could endanger people hunting with him, but the wolves will have nothing to worry about.
Gentlemen,
Keep in mind this is Montana and cattle is king. I’m sure ranchers who place a few (out of thousands of heads of) cattle above a robust and diverse ecosystem had a lot to do with this particular idiocy.
I’m not a hunter but I agree with Brittius, but then he seems a hunter in the true sense of the label. I think we see another breed of “hunter” that likes killing things for the sake of killing things.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24369244
Maybe I’ll go back to bed today . . .
Well, I’m a hunter, and I believe that a relocation program would best serve the interests of the communities involved and the animals. Why not live capture, then spay and neuter, and release the animals into an area that would benefit from a natural predator? To be candid, I would love to own one as a pet, and cubs young enough to domesticate would be very similar to any other canine breed. I do not hunt for trophies, I hunt for meat. I consume what I harvest. I am willing to wager that a few wolves neutered, spayed, and released into areas overrun with feral hogs, would cull that destructive but tasty population, while being compassionate. Where there is a will, there’s a way.
Hunters only need a target not rationale or necessity. The thirst for blood is more highly evolved in this group than the thirst for reason.
This makes me physically ill.
I think with the cost of the equipment some of the folks use…. You could buy a nice winter beater…..
There’s a difference between thinning and extinction of a species….. But it’s been done before on American soil….
Humans. “Dumb all over and a little ugly on the side.”