Tuesday, March 18, 2025
When the Government Puts Wolves in Your Backyard
In October 1990, Richard Mann shot a red wolf that he feared was threatening his cattle. The wolf was a member of an "experimental population" the federal Fish and Wildlife Service had introduced to eastern North Carolina a few years earlier in an effort to save the most endangered canine on the planet. When the federal government introduces endangered species like wolves, it often seeks local buy-in by allowing activities that would otherwise be prohibited. In this case, it permitted private landowners to kill a red wolf if it was "in the act of killing livestock or pets, provided that freshly wounded or killed livestock or pets are evident."
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Such situations generally get the SSS treatment... it's best for all involved.
ReplyDeleteWhen they re-introduced wolves in Yellowstone, I thought they were crazy. Don't these idiots know that wolves eat people?
ReplyDeleteIt turns out, wolves in Yellowstone are a good thing. The ecological benefits of having a top predator in the ecosystem were rapid and undeniable. They're good for trees, fish, flowers, all this stuff you'd never think of.
But they do eat people. When wolves get into ranch land or rural neighborhoods, that's a whole different thing.
Ranchers love to moan and ***** about wolves, but then turn a blind eye to the fact that deprivations from predators are far less than theft and respiratory disease (neglect). Deprivations from wolves are statistically insignificant compared to virtually all other losses. How dare other people with their own ideas live in the same republic as ranchers, and use their political power to bring wolves back! I have yet to meet a rancher that isn't the epitome of entitlement and thinks the countryside belongs to them alone, solely for their cattle.
ReplyDeletePut up a fence that is more than a few pathetic strands of barbed wire. Predators are moot when livestock are properly secure, and high-fences, game fences, and hog fences are a common sight here in Texas because they work. Some places even offer financial aid for fencing in agricultural land.
Hunters love their deer, but they too often forget that predators are what keep them in shape and from destroying their own habitat. People love the improved yields and pollination from bees, but are NIMBY when it comes to the hives; wolves and countless other animals are in a similar bind, beneficial in many ways, but NIMBY. On a side note: Wolf and big predator hunting is one of the bigger reasons why I want to retire in Idaho. If there is no hunting left then I have no reason to move there.
- Arc
Take your kumbaya bullshit somewhere else. I did predator control in California as a side thing for a few years and I was called out to ranches several times to have farmers and ranchers show me where predators, coyotes for the most part, ran amok and killed shitloads of lambs and calves that were just left there to rot. Yes, they were killing just for fun. Have you ever seen lambs that were killed by being ripped out of the ewe while she was lambing?
DeleteAnd I don't know how to tell you this, but the type of fencing you're talking about is prohibitive when you're talking several thousand acres.
No, predators are not what keeps herds in shape. It's conservation efforts by man. True fact. No, farmers are not NIMBY when it comes to hives, matter of fact, in California farmers paid beekeepers to put hives on their properties.
You live in a fantasy world.
You'd think a better place to put them would be in Texas and Arkansas to keep the wild pig populations in check.
Delete-lg
You mean predation. The fact you got that part made the rest of your bullshit tl;dr.
DeleteI'm not sure wolves would stand a chance again the feral hogs running wild in the south... You'll seldom catch one alone and 2 or more is a deadly thing..
DeleteWe had a deer hunter that went missing a couple years back.. He had managed to set up his stand and then set up camp a little ways away to not spook the stand with too much scent..His hunt never happened, he was found dead in a tree near his camp, he had bled to death due to a few slashes on his thigh, one that had hit an artery.. There was pig sign all over the camp site and the bottom of that tree..
JD
Zip:
DeleteHe lost me when he lumped every rancher as being the same, with a description right out of the 19th century.
I know a lot of ranchers. I don't know a single one that's like he describes.
Ain't it grand that the same people who preach evolution will fight tooth and nail to stop the extinction or integration of an animal, in this case the coyotes diluting the wolves. Survival of the fittest is reality, but it's not evolution.
ReplyDeleteSome animals no longer serve a purpose because the flora and fauna have changed thanks to agriculture. Let the wolves die.
When you watch your resident elk herd all but disappear, and get to see the horrible way they die, you might think differently, those, the deer, the turkey, then, of course Mr. Cow, only worth about $1800, maybe more now. Like Mr. Lane stated so eloquently: TAKE YOUR KUMBAYA SHIT AND STUFF IT UP YOUR ASS. Definitely NO REASON FOR YOU TO MOVE HERE.
ReplyDeleteApologies Ken.
At the sale last week in Orland, CA, the price range on 500 to 600 pound steers was $3.00 to $4.65. That translates to $1800 to $2300 per head.
DeleteThat makes for some petty pricey treats for a non-native invasive species.
There used to be a wolf native to Florida named the Florida Black Wolf. We shot the last one sometime around 1900. Anyways...
ReplyDeleteI live in Northwest Wi. I'm in a a larger city here. I have had wolves in my yard. They aren't too afraid of people.
ReplyDeleteI have several friends who raise cattle. They all have had loss.
Our deer population is way down from the past. Trail cams show plenty of wolves.
A lot of women want pistols to pack when out walking or skiing.
Our happy neighbors in Minnesota wonder why their moose population is suffering?
The authorities know. They just don't talk.
Good luck!
Paul J
Ken, we handle them a little different here. Everywhere except by Yellowstone they're considered a predator. Near Yellowstone they're game animals and you need a permit. I always laugh when Colorado releases them near the border. They better head south! Ed
ReplyDeletehttps://wgfd.wyo.gov/wyoming-wildlife/large-carnivore/wolves-wyoming