Preserving The Wild Wolf

Preserving The Wild Wolf | Wolves signify the last of the remaining wild lands, and a different place and time, for most of us. In TV shows, you see wolves as denigrated and feared or glorified and noble, but do you really know (or care) about wolves?

As a dog owner reading this premier magazine, you know a lot about all canines. But have you ever thought about the wolf’s place on the planet? Everything from the “lowly” worm to the high-flying eagle has purpose. Creation or evolution, whether dogs came from wolves or from God, we can all agree that the wolf has served mankind by keeping the planet clean.

That is why the Idaho governor’s order of wolf extermination, wolf-killing bill S11211, is so significant to you—and especially to your children.

Country estate or high-rise dweller, you will probably never see a wolf doing its job. But stop and think about what the wolf and other “pests” and trophy animals mean to the preservation of life on this planet.

Preserving the wild wolf is keeping the “balance of nature” as intact as is possible in our increasingly synthetic world. Wolves take down injured or aged animals and with his little brothers, Coyote and Fox, he also cleans up carrion. In keeping the wild spaces clean, canidae serve mankind almost as much as do domestic dogs.

In 1931, the Animal Damage Control Act “allowed for the eradication of gray wolves,” and within five years, wolves were virtually extinct in Idaho and much of the northern Rockies. Realizing the damage done to the ecosystem, wolves were reintroduced to the Lower 48 in 1995.

Currently confirmed livestock losses attributed to wolves amount to only “0.00428 percent of the state’s livestock.” Put another way, there are “2.73 million cows and sheep” in Idaho and “roughly 1,500 wolves,” which is barely enough to clean up carrion.

Elk hunting in Idaho is big business and in 1999, Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game, referring to the estimated 170 wolves at that time, stated, “Most of the annual mortality of elk (1 year and older) is associated with human harvest.”

So, why did Idaho Governor Little sign a wolf killing bill into law this year? Politics and $$$ rule. Hunting lodges are big business, as is ranching.

Most Idahoans don’t know what their Governor has done. But now, thanks to Showsight magazine and TheDogPress.com, everyone knows and so will potential tourists, business entrepreneurs, and voters. Idaho is one of the most beautiful (and still unspoiled) states in America. I understand why Idahoans want to keep it that way but… in 1972, the Idaho population was under 70,000 and by 2020 the state’s population was over 1,839,106—an explosion of people!

It matters not where you live or whether you believe dogs descended from wolves or that dogs are a gift from the Creator, you have to be concerned…

The world’s population in 1900 was 1.6 billion. By 2020, world population had shot up to 7,794,798,739. Yeah, nearly eight billion people: A critical mass problem for the planet.

Let those numbing numbers sink in, because Idaho’s Wolf-killing Bill SB1211 affects YOU. No matter which state you live in, this by-product of America’s need to feed an overpopulated nation affects YOU.

Americans love steak, and the cattle ranching industry provides tourism income through eye-popping vacations. But Idaho without wolves? There are “2.73 million cows and sheep” in the state and “roughly 1,500 wolves,” but Idaho’s Governor signed the Wolf Killing Bill.

You glance down at your dog, patiently snoozing as you read this. Before he was a dog, he might have been a wolf, depending on your view of evolution vs. creation. Whether you live in rural Idaho or Manhattan, another of America’s symbols is about to vanish-disappear-be gone!

THINK. It was never a quandary, man against wolf, until there were too many people!

We’re not talking about YOU, of course… but there are eight billion people on a planet that simply cannot sustain that much “life” and not get sick. We are thankful for modern medicine, which promotes reproduction and prolongs life, but when species get out of balance, when the load becomes too much to bear, nature steps in.

The earth is groaning… As a quarter Comanche, I can hear it—and so can you if you become very quiet. Close your eyes and listen…

Preserving The Wild Wolf