Wolves

It's time, once again, to touch on a pretty volatile subject. I have a good friend who posts these pictures fairly often, and they always end up in pages of comments discussing the image and wolves in general.

Now, most people who know me know that I spent a great many years working with exotic animals, specializing in wolves and wolf mixes. So you might think, well, that picture is sure to piss Epona off.



That's where you would be wrong. Let's talk about the wolf for a little bit.

I love wolves. They are noble, impressive creatures. They have an organized way of living and hunting. Above all, they are predators. Powerful predators.

The government has decided it's a clever idea to introduce the Canadian Grey Wolf into the United States in several areas. Most people think this is a great idea. After all, weren't these wolves here first? Don't they deserve a chance to "reclaim" their homeland?

See, that's where you would be wrong.

There are indeed wolves native to the United States. What people don't seem to understand is that there are MANY subspecies of wolf, each adapted to their own climate and territory, complete with adaptations that help them live, hunt, breed, and survive in their particular environment.

What people aren't realizing is that the wolf native to our lands is a smallish, timid creature, that rarely causes issues with humans, finds enough wildlife to sustain itself, and has a moderate range of territory.

The Canadian Grey Wolf, on the other hand, is a massive creature, with huge paws, thick coat, and a huge territory that it roams. These are the adaptations it has evolved to live up north, where human settlements are further apart and there is larger game to be found.

Do you not see the problem I am getting to? The Government is introducing, NOT "reintroducing" a foreign species into the ecosystem. These wolves do NOT belong in that environment, and have indeed begun to wreak havoc among livestock and native game. They are far more bold than their shyer cousins, and need much more meat to sustain a growing pack. They migrate miles upon miles, ending up far from where the Government "wants" them to be.

So someone posts a picture of a dead wolf and the world blows up. Animal Rights activists and animal lovers are outraged. They parrot false information: The wolf belongs here. The wolf does not threaten humans. The wolf won't kill livestock.

What they fail to realize is that they are simply repeating the tired and false mythology spread by bleeding hearts. Most wolf lore is based upon a study done on a captive pack, and then written about in numerous books and journals. (Julie of the Wolves, anyone?) People begin to take it as truth, when in reality, many of these "facts" have since been proven erroneous.

I have handled wolves. Many wolves. I have handled wolf mixes (I refuse to call them hybrids, as in my personal opinion, the genome of the dog shows it to be merely a very complex subspecies of the wolf, therefor, a mix between the two is NOT a hybrid) extensively. The differences between subspecies of wolves alone is staggering. Everything from behavior, size, habits . . .

So I stand on a fine line between two warring factions. I stand for the right of the wolf, to live it's life unfettered and allowed to be in it's natural state.

I stand against the Government and Animal Rights activists sticking their dirty fingers where they don't belong.

The Canadian Grey Wolf does NOT belong where they are introducing it. It WILL migrate, it WILL destroy livestock, it WILL cause problems.

The American Timber Wolf, on the other hand, STILL exists in our country! Why are we introducing a whole new subspecies when we have one already, one adapted to living in smaller territory, with smaller prey and natural predators.

It just doesn't make sense.

The wolves in the picture above died from human foolishness. Do I mean the hunters pictured? No. I mean the fools who thought up and implemented this moronic introduction of an invasive sub species.

Kill All Wolves - Or Take Personal Responsibility

So I stumbled across this video on Facebook yesterday evening, (been doing a lot of stumbling!) and took a moment to watch and listen to the guy.

> Video Here <

"so here is the story. we are pissed to say the least. we find a nice cat track this AM. Turned out our jump dog (our pride and joy=sadie) I put sam on a lead and a buddy brings his young dog in as well. Sadie goes in a 1/4 mile and starts really hammerin down the track. so we get about a mile from the truck and things start heating up so i let sam go to sadie and my buddy cuts his loose. sam gets in with sadie they make a circle and screaming, i figured its jumped but my buddys dog didnt really go witch is weird for him. all of sudden treed. i told nick something is wrong sam don't bark like that. all of sudden sadie takes off and moving. so we run twards sam cant hear him, nicks dog comes to us screaming like ive never heard out of dog. Then the wolf right on his ass he gets to twenty yards and turned and belined. So now i go to sam and he is completey dead. Sadie is 230 yds and still barking and moving so i run to her leashed her up(still chasing the cat) then realize there is wolf tracks all a round her. she is one very lucky dog i don't know how she got out alive and no scratches. we did see a glimpse of one more in the brush. I brought sam out dead and i was gonna take into the DNR office and through him on the desk and tell then to deal with it...."

The basics, as explained in his little note, is that he went out hunting with his dogs for bobcats. They were trailing a cat track when his dogs were allegedly jumped by "timber" wolves and the younger dog was killed. He then videos the dead dog, with the other dog still calling and tracking in the background, and bitches about how his dog was killed, and how all wolves need to be killed. How he and his buddies should just be able to enjoy a bit of sport without having to worry about their dogs getting killed.

I just sat there and blinked for a moment. So . . . let me get this straight?

You went out hunting, to kill, a predator. And then your dog gets killed by another predator, and suddenly it's a big ordeal?

Look, I don't have a problem with hunting. I support responsible hunting. I don't have a problem hunting with dogs either. It is indeed a great sport, and very exciting. But it's also a risky sport. Shit happens. You are sending your dogs out into the "wild" and putting them against dangerous predators.

Is it really so surprising that once in a while, an incident like this happens?

Many people know that I have extensive experience handling exotic mammals, including wolves. I like wolves. They are absolutely fascinating creatures. But there is also a huge amount of misinformation out there about them. So much "research" was done on captive bred packs, which tainted the findings and has led to romanticizing the wolf.

These wolves no doubt saw a threat to their territory, and did what wolves, and many other wild predators, do. They dispatched the threat.

Is it unfortunate that the dog died? Absolutely. But the response by the hunters just blows my mind. The solution is not "kill all wolves." The solution is to take responsibility for your actions. You sent your dog out to hunt a dangerous predator in the territory inhabited by other dangerous predators. The risk of injury or death to your dog is something you have to accept. You cannot turn around and blame a wild predator.

Don't like the risks? Don't hunt in this fashion. Don't waste your breath blasting the DNR because you chose to go out and take the risks.

Personal responsibility people. Get some.

Special thanks to Theresa B. for accidentally pointing this article out to me.