Posted on 08/30/2008 10:09:11 PM PDT by quiet_reverie
I lived in Fairbanks from 82 until 87. This same “Stop the Wolf Hunt” bullsh*t was going on up there during that time. It’s just something enviro-hippies do to stay halfass employed and keep the donations rolling in.
That makes perfect sense to you and I but for environmentalist ‘nature needs to take its course, unless man interferes.’
In other words Quiet_reverie nothing you say can change their minds on this issue. There are two ways of looking at nature:
1. Hunters perspective: were man helps keep the populations in balance.
2. Environmentalists perspective: were nature ‘is balance.’
Sitting in a living room, overlooking the pool while watching a documentary on “Majestic” wolves isn’t a very good way to decide on legislation regarding the animals. Yet most of the people who lobby and vote for such laws have never watched a pack of wolves tear apart a calf while the mother stands by helplessly. Of course the wolf looks like Rin Tin Tin or the neighbor’s playful watchdog while the moose looks more like a cartoon character so it’s easier to feel some kinship toward the wolf.
I once tried hunting wolves. We spent four days flying around looking at all that beautiful scenery and ended up with only one wolf. The hide was so ratty we couldn’t sell it so we ended up losing money and very nearly losing fingers to frostbite.
We all watched Bambi, we all cried when Bambi’s mom was killed.
But real nature is nothing like Bambi. When you think about it, the best thing that can happen to a wild animal is to die by a clean shot.
Wolves kill each other. They kill each other’s babies. Or they die slowly getting eaten by parasites, or painful sickness, or starving to death when they hurt themselves - broken bones or the like.
excellent
Wolves are still scary for Mr. and Mrs. Suburbanite. Meanwhile, Polar Bears are soft and precious and mean no harm. Kids love them. And the Republicans want their hides made into rugs.
You know it’s coming.
The wolf population was killing the Carabou herds and become a nuisance. Aerial killing was the quickest and easiest method to control the problem.
I have a strong opinion and it’s that Sasquatches are awesome at aerial hunting especially the ones with high powered rifles and wings.
Be definition, it is impossible for wolves to over-predate moose. Without wolves around, moose tend to over-populate the environment, and we come to accept the over-population as normal. When wolves are re-introduced the moose population returns to normal and we think of the moose as being over-predated.
But the problem is in our perception, not in the real environment.
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