Wolf Legends and Myths Exposed
May 19th, 2008 by admin
By Karen Warnick
The Pioneer
was when the wolves were first released. The ‘wolf people’ came to the Alpine
School and did a program for the kids. They said that the wolves were so
reclusive that probably no one would ever see them. The next day the whole
school was on the bus for a field trip. About five miles up the road, a wolf was
trotting along the highway with a pink collar on. It just looked up at the bus
load of kids and resumed trotting down the highway. Later a wolf was chasing
cattle right in the center of town. So much for the credibility of the ‘wolf
people’.”
The wolf reintroduction program throughout the US is a highly controversial
subject and many people on both sides of the issue use myths, legends and
misconceptions to state their cases. The truth often can be found somewhere
in the middle. Because of the growing numbers of reports of wolf depredations
and sightings in Arizona, it is important to educate those who live and play in
the rural areas of our state. Hiding the truth and the facts does no one any
good. Hysteria and emotion cloud the real issues.
Wildlife management is an art science, not a specific science. A specific
science is conclusive and can be tested and retested, with the same results.
Chemistry is an example. An art science, such as wildlife management, has so
many variables that two biologists can look at the same studies and come up
with different conclusions. As often happens in inexact science studies,
scientists will often disagree with each other after doing the exact same
studies. Such is the case with the wolf. One doesn’t need to be a scientist to
study the wolf issue and come to a valid opinion. What is needed is a clear,
unemotional look at the history of wolves and the reintroduction program being
done in this country.
One of the major problems in studying wolves and wolf attacks is the
requirement by the government and biologists of “documented” cases. It
doesn’t count if it’s not documented according to their standards. In order to
be documented as a wolf attack, an official must be called in to do a report.
With the number of attacks on livestock and pets escalating, there is a growing
concern that there aren’t enough officials to do the job. According to T.R.
Mader, research director of the Abundant Wildlife Society of North America,
and independent research organization, “As with rabid wolves, the biologist
can say, ‘there are no documented cases of wild healthy wolves attacking
humans.’
“In order to be documented these unreasonable criteria must be met:
1. the wolf has to be killed, examined and found to be healthy;
2. It must be proven that the wolf was never kept in captivity in its entire life;
3. There must be eyewitnesses to the attack;
4. The person must die from their wounds (bites are generally not considered
attacks).” The unreasonable requirements for documenting a wolf attack have
actually lowered the actual number of attacks and are misleading and
dishonest.
Mr. Mader has researched wolf history for more than 15 years and has
traveled over 30,000 miles conducting research and interviews on
environmental and wolf issues. He has written many published articles on
wolves, including two that are used in this article. His documentation, research
and list of references are impressive and his work is credible. In his report on
the myths and misconceptions on wolves, Mr. Mader lists 12 misconceptions
and has thoroughly researched each one. The 20 page report is too long to
reprint here, but the highlights of his study are listed below.
1. Wolves are not biologically in danger of extinction and should be removed
from the Endangered Species Act. There are over 2,000 wolves in Minnesota,
6,000 to 10,000 in Alaska and 50,000 in Canada. (Other research indicates that
there are over 70,000 wolves in Canada.)
2. Wolf reintroduction in any part of the US would reduce wildlife populations
in those areas.
3. Wolves will affect hunting of wildlife populations in and surrounding
recovery areas. Wolf depredation has caused the total destruction of some
wild game herds in certain areas. As one wildlife biologist put it, “Really there
isn’t any room for harvest by man if you have a healthy wolf population.”
4. Wolves will not stay in recovery areas. Wolves have been documented
traveling hundreds of miles.
5. Wolf depredation of domestic animals will occur. Compensation of
livestock loss would have to be allowed. But such compensation would not
cover total losses incurred due to difficulties in confirmation of wolf kills.
6. Wolves often kill more than they eat.
7. Death, destruction and suffering follow the wolf. The wolf is a predator and
therefore has to take life in order to maintain its own life.
8. There will NOT always be a desirable balance between prey and predator
especially if harvest by man (hunting) is allowed. The prey populations decline
drastically when harvested by man and wolf. Wolf predation directly curtails
hunting. Wolf predation alone often keeps wildlife populations low for
extended periods of time.
9. States must consider economic factors of wolf reintroduction. Limited game
would mean limited allowable licenses for that game. For example, federal
officials estimated that 10 wolf packs Yellowstone National Park would eat
more than 1000 elk annually. The state of Wyoming figures that income per
elk hunter is as follows: Resident = $367.93-Out of state = $1221.00. If those
1000 elk were harvested equally by resident and out of state hunters, income
to the state would be $794,469.00 annually. Thus wolf reintroduction could
mean serious loss of income for wildlife management to states with wolves.
10. Wolves, at times, do pose a threat to man himself. There are enough
current documented accounts to attest to wolf attacks on man.
Some of the important questions that Mr. Mader asked in his report are
questions that citizens should be asking of their officials and those involved in
the wolf recovery program. Is there a guarantee of success in eradicating
“problem wolves”? Will the federal government compensate the states for
economic losses due to reduction of hunting because of wolf depredation on big
game herds? What steps will be taken to assure that deer and elk herds will
not be exterminated due to wolf depredation as has happened in several areas
of the Western hemisphere? Would the wolf enhance the public safety in or
near recovery areas? Should tax dollars be used to fund wolf recovery or
should the special interest groups promoting wolf recovery be required to fund
their own agenda without handouts from US taxpayers? Should officials and/or
advocates of wolf recovery be held personally liable if a pet was attacked or
injured by wolves? In the event of wolf attack on a human, who will be liable?
Due to the difficulty in “confirming” wolf kills, will compensation be given to
“probable” kills? Does wolf recovery really benefit wolves? Is forcing such
recovery creating ‘hatred” as seen in years past? Why have the 3 “S’s”
(shoot, shovel and shut-up) become so common in the West where wolf
recovery was forced upon the people of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho?
However one feels about wolves, the fact that they have and do attack
livestock and humans has been well documented, maybe not to standards of
the officials, but there are numerous cases throughout the world. One has to
only spend a few hours reading to find this information. It is also relevant to
ask the question, why were wolves killed off in this country when there was
even less human population then there is now? The wolf’s habitat of old is not
the same as it is now. No matter how we look at it, there is no way to
reintroduce wolves to an ecosystem that existed before millions of humans
took over that habitat. The question needs to be asked, if we are so gung ho
on helping the wolves make a come back, are we willing to live with the
consequences? Are we willing to give up the land we now live on in order to let
the wolves have it back?
Another important question that will be covered in another article is, are the
Mexican grey wolves reintroduced into Arizona and New Mexico pure-bred or
are they hybrids as many have suggested? Regardless of the answers to
these questions, wolves are here and they are becoming a problem. Everyone
who lives in rural areas in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, and
hunts, hikes, and camps those areas, needs to be aware that they are around
and take precautions. We will also take a look at the new Navajo county
ordinance recently passed by the Board of Supervisors.
Dear Admin,
Thank you for “introducing” me to Karen Warnick and the Pioneer. She is a very good writer and prolific! I’m joining her fan club.
Wow….more wolves and predators, less hunting. Sport hunting. Wolves often kill more than the eat. Sport hunters seldom eat what they kill… we don’t hunt because we need the food. We hunt for the thrill of it. Now, does that make us better, or worse than wolves? Hmm….
We are better than wolves, I grew up putting meat on the table and never wasted any of it. I did not go around demonizing your city momma and poppa either because I got raised to respect others and how they choose to live unlike your self. I got raised to respect all life even that which I took so I could live, never felt thrilled about the hard work of stalking, killing, and skinning and cleaning, then boneing out and steaking out and wrapping the meat for freezer storage and tanning the hides. Hunting is a skill not a sport never was never will be. Sportsmen shows do demonize the act of hunting I will agree on that. Shoving all of us into that demonization is stupid. There is a ton of evidence available proving this wolf agenda is a lie. get off your stupid lazy ass and learn the truth.
You would think people would wake up to the Green scam by now. $4 a gallon gas thanks to the green closing off drilling for oil here in America. Plenty of oil off CA coast nope can’t touch that we Americans want to pay $4 a gallon thanks Green liars. Just like the wolf program these are Mutts with radio collars. It is a proven fact they have dog in them but our Government and the Gang Green liars still want this useless mutt protected. I guess when people get all their views told to them by TV then can’t think for themselves and are just good little parrots. Great job Karen for exposing the green lie on the wolf.
Ok first off, I’m not a city dweller. Second off, I do think that wolves should be controled. But when people go around saying we should wipe them out? Nuh huh. They were put here for a purpose. And yes, there are plenty out there that say we are better off without the wolf period. I’m pretty sure wolves have been delisted as of this month, but I might be wrong in that. And sport hunters suck, there’s no defending someone who goes out and kills for a trophy. Sorry. However, if you use or consume what you hunt, that is a different matter entirely.
What really bothers me is that instead of letting the statistics stand as they are, and there is a lot out there by credible people on how wolves should be controled, there are many groups that go around showing how wolves ‘kill puppies, baby horses, kittens’. Don’t sit there and tell me this isn’t a tactic that is designed to pull a HUGE emotional response because I won’t buy that.
And Bruce, kiss the ground you live on. England pays double what we pay in gas. I think that if it were done correctly, we could drill in the US so I’m not a complete greeny.
Ok Bruce. Checked out your website. This is not an attack. This is a genuine desire to understand. You say you don’t want to eradicate the wolf. What exactly do you want to see done? Please don’t take this as an act of hostility ok? It’s not.
This is the part that’s really confusing me with all these sites and ends up putting me on the defensive. What exactly do you all want to see done? I must not be reading your sites well enough to figure this out, my apologies. Instead of calling me lazy and stupid, spell it out for me here ok?
Thanks, appreciate it!
Tay, you haven’t lived until you’ve been in a small rural community beset by wolves for an extended period of time. Read “Wolves in Russia”. It sounded very familiar. Here wolves crashed into back doors trying to get in as a dog escaped fate in a room where a toddler roamed about. Half the community suffering from the horrors and sleep deprivation because of periods of nightly attacks or attempted attacks on calves, dogs, running mules and other livestock through fences, your outside cats are eaten. In a small community beset by wolves these kind of things add up. More objective wolf experts claim this sort of thing is a very dangerous situation.
People couldn’t afford to really sleep as every sound or dog bark at night might be a signal of another attack on your animals.
The wolves even stalked the school. After several days of finding scat around the school and the nearby road the wolf program people who keep track of collared wolves failed to report presence of wolves they said 2 - 3 miles from the school because “2 -3 miles is a ‘Loooong way for a wolf’. We all know better than that here. Wolves can travel incredible distances. 5 miles is a small jaunt. They sometimes out in twice that nightly for periods going from house to house. Anyway, sure enough wolfy was not far from the door as Mom came to to pick up the girls that afternoon.
Meanwhile those who ought to be controlling the situation show an almost psychopathic indifference to the peoples livelihoods and safety tolerating unbelievable amounts of difficulty heaped on the community for months at a time. How do people show so little remorse for harm and danger they foist onto others? They behave just like ‘Big Pharm’ or any other corporation who care not if the medicine kills as long as their interests are served. No remorse.
We all better wake up soon as these kind of people will have a much tighted and more unpleasant control of all of us. They would prefer automatons to people, who have no sense of human dignity and propiety. Then they wouldn’t need wolves to destroy communities which they have been allowed to do and are continuing to do. Funny that those who are suffering from these remorseless ones are some of the most considerate and innocent and inoffensive people. Its almost as if they are targeted.
I think the big powerful mean guys would like to move rural families and their small harmless agriculture off the land. Then they can have more control over their beings using high-tech to keep track and program. Just like they do in the big consumption bubbles now. What they want is that and moreso. A good strategy for population ‘control’, if you know what I mean.
Don’t worry. If you join them and become a good little psychopath maybe they won’t give you a futuristic high-tech lobotomy slave lifestyle and will allow you to stay out in the country. Too bad most people in this country have forgotten how to do for their selves like most people in my community.
Speaking of lobotomys, you should be at a meeting about wolf issues and hear those from urban areas who have been massively programmed about the wolves. Wolves are so wonderful that all wild ungulate populations, hunting (which is still an important and historic food source here and has been for thousands of years), protection of families, sane control of the wolves are not the slightest bit important. The same rhetoric repeats itself time after time, ” they BALANCE nature” Not-do some more research. Like the wonderful popularized catastrophic wildfire being promoted by the FS and the environgos that is completely killing forests across the west- destroying watersheds, wildlife, habitat, communities and ancient genetics- wolves can be a plague on the land as far as health and balance is concerned. They have a capacity more than any other predator to create mortality sinks. They will eventually kill all prey sometimes causing a dieoff of themselves and other predators. …..”they have rights” if people were as concerned ahere are about our unalienable and ancient human rights we’d have a much saner and compassionate country.
Anyway, these people are sooo programmed with sensationalistic cliches by wolf program and environgos programming they sound as if they’ve each had the same tape inserted into their forehead. Maybe the guvs found a way to inadvertantly chip them. Talk about emotional sensationalism! Sorry about the lengthy diatribe - sometimes it spills out overly. The people here really have every right to be incensed, but most are too nice to speak up much and still try to live and let live and go along with the show and the burden as best they can.
Ok please don’t take this in a bad way but from what I’m hearing, the best solution, from those that are in the thick of the battle so to speak, is to eradicate the wolf, yes? Get rid of it completely? Or control it? Which would be best?
And hey, lengthy tirades are a sign of maximum frustration, so don’t worry about being lengthy.
To the people at Wolf Crossing:
Please feel free to remove my other two comments as well.