
Brad Hill a nature photographer and biologist has taken up
the crusade to protect wolves. A
resident of British Columbia, Hill recently discovered that wildlife management
officials in Canada are using neck snares to trap and kill wolves. These snares usually cause very painful and
prolonged deaths for the animals that they trap. The snares were banned by an international
treaty for the humane treatment of animals.
Canada is a signatory member of the treaty and is using the snares in
violation of that treaty. Mr. Hill has
started a petition to get the Canadian government to stop using the snares and
to protect the wolves. At the bottom of
this post, I have left a link for you to sign the petition too. Please consider taking five seconds out of
your life to help these amazing animals.
This issue has caught my attention because the U.S. has
recently allowed individual states to start hunting wolves again. All of the wolves around the Yellowstone
ecosystem and elsewhere are now in danger of being shot and killed. This has been done primarily to appease ranchers who
have lost livestock to the predation of wolves.
What irritates me is that this
new policy was sneaked in as part of our December budget deal. In order to save our country form the fiscal
cliff, our legislators felt it was necessary to shoot some wolves. I am sure that saved us from financial
disaster!
In a recent radio interview, award winning wildlife
cinematographers Jim and Jamie Dutcher http://www.livingwithwolves.org/wwd_a_jim.html
discussed the problems that come from hunting wolves. They stated that most of the predation on
livestock by wolves occurs from weak packs or singular animals. They claimed that when packs are strong,
they hunt elk, moose, bison and deer. When a
pack is weak, it can be tempted to go after easier prey like cows and sheep. They discussed that when members of a pack
are killed, the pack goes into mourning and often it is split into smaller packs
that are less able to kill the large ungulates that they prefer to eat. In order to survive, the weakened packs then
turn to preying on livestock. Why then
are we allowing hunters to shatter these packs? Doesn’t that lead to an increased risk of
farmers losing their livestock?
I must admit that I live in New England where we worry about
coyotes eating our cats. Wolves are
thousands of miles away. They do not
cause me any problems. Most of my
limited experience with wolves comes from zoos. My favorite moment was listening to a wild
pack in Yellowstone calling to each other at dawn. What a thrill that was!
I do sympathize with ranchers that lose their
livestock. I have no problem with the
federal government reimbursing farmers for lost or underweight livestock due to
predation by wolves. I don’t mind my taxes increasing to protect
the wolves.
There is plenty of room in this great world of ours to have
ranchers and wolves. If a pack does
start praying on livestock, then that pack should be removed or maybe even
killed. However, I truly believe that
they should not be hunted for sport.
Leave the wolves alone unless they are
proven to be preying on livestock.
Many bioligists agree that wolves are important for the
overall health of bison, elk and deer herds.
Wolves tend to prey on the weak and diseased animals, which in turn
keeps the herds more healthy. Ranchers
worry about bison and elk leaving Yellowstone and infecting their cattle with
brucellosis. According to the Wyoming
Sierra Club, wolves can help reduce the amount of animals that have
brucellosis. Why not work with
wolves instead of against them?
If you believe that wolves should not be inhumanely trapped
in British Columbia, please read Brad Hill’s article and sign his petition. Here is the link for his article “Wolf
Snares in my Backyard” http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0313/bh0313-1.html Here is the link to go directly to his
petition http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-use-of-killing-neck-snares-against-wolves-in-b.html
The image accompanying this post was made in a controlled situation at the West Yellowstone Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center http://www.grizzlydiscoveryctr.com/
The image accompanying this post was made in a controlled situation at the West Yellowstone Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center http://www.grizzlydiscoveryctr.com/
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