I’m still here, I have a few personal issues to deal with but I’ll be back. Please hold down the fort while I’m gone. Feel free to read through the archives, it will give you a very clear picture of what wolves have been through since the first delisting in 2009.
Get your thinking caps on, we’re going to need all the brainpower we can muster to defeat this evil.
We will not allow our wolves, America’s wolves, to be used as target practice for the pleasure of a few sickos at the expense of the many.
Just to let everyone know I’ll be off and on the blog the next few weeks and will be posting very little. I still encourage everyone to stop by and continue to read. I’ll be checking in as often as I can. So sorry for the the inconvenience.
Now, more than ever, it’s imperative we continue to shout down the ignorant , the uniformed and the hateful who seek to demonize one of natures perfect predators, the wolf. It’s our job to defend and fight for them.
===
What Good Are Wolves?
A growing body of scientific research shows wolves are key to the ecosystems of the Northern Rockies. Here’s a condensed version compiled by a long-time wolf advocate.
By Norman A. Bishop, Guest Writer, 1-04-11
In 1869, General Phil Sheridan said, “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.” Others said, “The only good wolf is a dead wolf.”
Barry Lopez wrote of an American Pogrom, not only of Native Americans and wolves, but of the bison on which both depended. Between 1850 and 1890, 75 million bison were killed, mostly for their hides; perhaps 1 million or 2 million wolves.
“Before about 1878, cattlemen were more worried about Indians killing their cattle than they were about wolves. As the land filled up with other ranchers, as water rights became an issue, and as the Indians were removed to reservations, however, the wolf became, as related in Barry Lopez’s book, “Of Wolves and Men,” ‘an object of pathological hatred.’” Lopez continues: “The motive for wiping out wolves (as opposed to controlling them) proceeded from misunderstanding, from illusions of what constituted sport, from strident attachment to private property, from ignorance and irrational hatred.
In 1884, Montana set a bounty on wolves; in the next three years, 10,261 wolves were bountied. “In 1887, the bounty was repealed by a legislature dominated by mining interests. … By 1893 … desperate stockmen were reporting losses that were mathematical impossibilities. The effect of this exaggeration was contagious. The Montana sheep industry, which up to this time had lost more animals to bears and mountain lions than to wolves, began to blame its every downward economic trend on the wolf. … Men in a speculative business like cattle ranching singled out one scapegoat for their financial losses.”
Not until wolves were functionally extinct from much of the West did anyone begin to ask “What good are wolves?” to study wolves, and to report their beneficial effects on their prey species and on the ecosystems where they lived.
Adolph Murie realized that wolves selected weaker Dall sheep, “which may be of great importance to the sheep as a species.” His brother, Olaus J. Murie, thought predators may have an important influence during severe winters in reducing elk herds too large for their winter range. Douglas H. Pimlott pointed out that wolves control their own densities.
Yellowstone National Park wolf project leader Douglas W. Smith says that restoration of wolves there has added exponentially to our knowledge of how natural ecosystems work. It has also reminded us that predation is one of the dominant forces in all of nature, present in ecosystems worldwide over millions of years.
Bob Crabtree and Jennifer Sheldon note that predation by wolves is important to the integrity of the Yellowstone ecosystem, but we should realize that, before their return to Yellowstone’s northern range, 17 mountain lions there killed 611 elk per year, 60 grizzly bears killed 750 elk calves annually, and 400 coyotes killed between 1,100 and 1,400 elk per year.
P.J. White et al wrote that climate and human harvest account for most of the recent decline of the northern Yellowstone elk herd, coupled with the effects of five predators: wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, cougars, and coyotes. These are parts of a system unique in North America by its completeness.
Joel Berger et al demonstrated “a cascade of ecological events that were triggered by the local extinction of grizzly bears … and wolves from the southern greater Yellowstone ecosystem.” In about 75 years, moose in Grand Teton National Park erupted to five times the population outside the park, changed willow structure and density, and eliminated neotropical birds: gray catbirds and MacGillivray’s warblers.
Dan Tyers informs us that wolves haven’t eliminated moose from Yellowstone. Instead, burning of tens of thousands of acres of moose habitat in 1988 (mature forests with their subalpine fir) hit the moose population hard, and it won’t recover until the forests mature again.
Mark Hebblewhite and Doug Smith documented that wolves change species abundance, community composition, and physical structure of the vegetation, preventing overuse of woody plants like willow, and reducing severity of browsing on willows that provide nesting for songbirds. In Banff, songbird diversity and abundance were double in areas of high wolf densities, compared to that of areas with fewer wolves. Fewer browsers lead to more willows, providing habitat for beaver, a keystone species, which in turn create aquatic habitat for other plants and animals.
By reducing coyotes, which were consuming 85 percent of the production of mice in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, restored wolves divert more food to raptors, foxes, and weasels. By concentrating on killing vulnerable calf elk and very old female elk, wolves reduce competition for forage by post-breeding females, and enhance the nutrition of breeding-age females.
Wolves promote biological diversity, affecting 20 vertebrate species, and feeding many scavengers (ravens, magpies, pine martens, wolverines, bald eagles, gray jays, golden eagles, three weasel species, mink, lynx, cougar, grizzly bear, chickadees, Clark’s nutcracker, masked shrew and great grey owl). In Yellowstone, grizzly bears prevailed at 85 percent of encounters over carcasses, and they usurp nearly every kill made by wolves in Pelican Valley from March to October.
Some 445 species of beetle scavengers benefit from the largess of wolf-killed prey. In Banff and Yellowstone, no other predator feeds as many other species as do wolves. Wolf-killed elk carcasses enhance local levels of soil nutrients, adding 20 percent to 500 percent greater nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
Dan Stahler and his colleagues saw an average of four ravens on carcasses in Lamar Valley pre-wolf. Post-wolf, that increased to an average of 28, with as many as 135 seen on one carcass. Eagles seen on carcasses increased from an average of one per four carcasses to four per carcass.
P.J. White and Bob Garrott observed that, by lowering elk numbers, wolves may contribute to higher bison numbers; decreasing coyote populations result in higher pronghorn numbers. They also said wolves may ameliorate ungulate-caused landscape simplification.
Daniel Fortin and others saw that wolves may cause elk to shift habitat, using less aspen, and favoring songbirds that nest in the aspen.
Christopher Wilmers and all tell us that hunting by humans does not benefit scavengers the way wolf kills do. Carrion from wolf kills is more dispersed spatially and temporally than that from hunter kills, resulting in three times the species diversity on wolf kills versus hunter kills. Wolves subsidize many scavengers by only partly consuming their prey; they increase the time over which carrion is available, and change the variability in scavenge from a late winter pulse (winterkill) to all winter. They decrease the variability in year-to-year and month to-month carrion availability.
Chris Wilmers and Wayne Getz write that wolves buffer the effects of climate change. In mild winters, fewer ungulates die of winterkill, causing loss of carrion for scavengers. Wolves mitigate late-winter reduction in carrion by killing ungulates all year.
Mid-sized predators can be destructive in the absence of large keystone predators. In the absence of wolves, pronghorn have been threatened with elimination by coyotes. Wolves have reduced coyotes and promoted survival of pronghorn fawns. Pronghorn does actually choose the vicinity of wolf dens to give birth, because coyotes avoid those areas, according to Douglas W. Smith.
Mark Hebblewhite reviewed the effects of wolves on population dynamics of large-ungulate prey, other effects on mountain ecosystems, sensitivity of wolf-prey systems to top-down and bottom-up management, and how this may be constrained in national park settings. Then he discussed the implications of his research on ecosystem management and long-term ranges of variation in ungulate abundance. He cites literature that suggests that the long-term stable state under wolf recovery will be low migrant elk density in Western montane ecosystems, noting that wolves may be a keystone species, without which ungulate densities increase, vegetation communities become overbrowsed, moose and beaver decline, and biodiversity is reduced. But as elk decline, aspen and willow regeneration are enhanced. In this context, wolf predation should be viewed as a critical component of an ecosystem management approach across jurisdictions.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) could wipe out our elk and deer. Tom Hobbs writes that increasing mortality rates in diseased populations can retard disease transmission and reduce disease prevalence. Reduced lifespan, in turn, can compress the time interval when animals are infectious, thereby reducing the number of infections produced per infected individual. Results from simulations suggest that predation by wolves has the potential to eliminate CWD from an infected elk population.
Wildlife veterinarian Mark R. Johnson writes that wolves scavenge carrion, such as aborted bison or elk calves. By eating them, they may reduce the spread of Brucellosis to other bison or elk.
Scott Creel and John Winnie, Jr. report that wolves also cause elk to congregate in smaller groups, potentially slowing the spread of diseases that thrive among dense populations of ungulates.
John Duffield and others report that restoration of wolves has cost about $30 million, but has produced a $35.5 million annual net benefit to greater Yellowstone area counties, based on increased visitation by wolf watchers. Some 325,000 park visitors saw wolves in 2005. In Lamar Valley alone, 174,252 visitors observed wolves from 2000 to 2009, where wolves were seen daily in summers for nine of those ten years.
Wolves cause us to examine our values and attitudes. Paul Errington wrote, “Of all the native biological constituents of a northern wilderness scene, I should say that the wolves present the greatest test of human wisdom and good intentions.”
Aldo Leopold, father of game management in America, said, “Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. That is to say, you cannot love game and hate predators. … The land is one organism.”
Leopold also pointed out that the first rule of intelligent tinkering with natural ecosystems was to keep all the pieces. Eliminating predators is counter to that advice. Wolves remind us to consider what is ethically and esthetically right in dealing with natural systems.
As Leopold wrote in his essay “The Land Ethic,” “A land ethic … does affirm (animals’) right to continued existence … in a natural state.” He concluded, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Norman Bishop lives in Bozeman, Montana, and is a member of the advisory board of Living With Wolves, a group which raises awareness about wolves and their importance to healthy ecosystems. He worked for 36 years for the National Park Service, which included leading and supporting wolf restoration interpretation in Yellowstone National Park from 1985 to 1997. He was a reviewer of the 1990 and 1992 reports to Congress, “Wolves for Yellowstone?” and contributed to the 1994 Environmental Impact Statement, “The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho.”
In light of the Sacramento Bee’s explosive exposeon Wildlife Services and the lawsuit filed against the agency by WildEarth Guardians, I felt it would be important to re-post this 2009 piece.
Remember this is a repost, reflecting what was happening in 2009, so a few of the links are outdated but Wildlife Services hasn’t changed, they’re still doing what they’ve been doing for decades, killing wildlife.
“It’s just a subsidy to agriculture.. Somehow we’ve decided as a culture that agriculture should be subsidized through the death of animals and this agency is particularly destructive because it robs the public of wildlife and doesn’t even do that much good.” (Jay Tutchton, Environmental law clinic, University of Denver School of Law)
They have the authority to trap, poison, shoot and aerial gun animals, done mainly for the livestock industry. Because Wildlife Services keeps a low profile, most people have no idea their tax dollars are paying a federal agency to kill off predators and other wildlife to “protect ranching.”
If you’ve ever wondered, as I have, what’s happened to all the foxes, raccoons, beavers and coyotes, just to name a few, well now you know. A good many of them are being blown away each year by this agency. And most of us, have absolutely nothing to say about it. Does that seem right to you?
The statistics are shocking:
Wildlife Services killed 1456 gray wolves nationally from 2004 to 2008. That’s an average of 364 dead wolves per year. They even killed 9 Mexican Gray wolves in that same time period, one of the most endangered animals in the US, they only number 52 wolves.
“The governments own figures again show that mammalian carnivores kill very few livestock (0.18%) Of the 104.5 million cattle that were produced in 2005, 190,000 (or 0.18%) died as the result of predation from coyotes, domestic dogs, and other carnivores (USDA, 2006). In comparison, livestock producers lost 3.9 million head of cattle (3.69%) to all sorts of maladies, weather, or theft, respiratory problems, digestive problems, calving, unknown, other, disease, lameness, metabolic problems, poison (USDA, 2006)
Coyotes were the primary cattle predators — they killed 97,000 cattle in 2005, followed by domestic dogs — which killed 21,900 cattle. Wolves killed remarkably few cattle, 4,400 head, as did the felids (USDA, 2006)” http://www.goagro.org/index.html
So let’s get this straight. DOMESTIC DOGS killed more cattle than wolves!. That’s from the USDA, 2006 numbers. Coyotes, who killed the most cattle, 97,000, which still is a very small percentage, paid dearly with their lives. 696,936 coyotes were eliminated by Wildlife Services between 2004-2008.
Truth really does put everything in perspective and when you see how little damage wolves really do compared to other factors, it’s mind-boggling that we’re having organized wolf hunts, management plans, aerial gunning, poisoning, denning and trapping of wolves with whole federal and state agencies devoted to making sure the wolf population doesn’t get any bigger. You have to ask yourself why?Can you guess? It’s called irrational fear, intolerance of another species and appalling arrogance.
Photo: courtesy James Balog
“Wolves killed in Polaris, Montana in 2004 for the purposes of livestock protection. Wildlife Services agents, school children, and teacher pose with dead wolves.”
“In just one year, your tax dollars helped kill 252 gray wolves, 72,816 coyotes, 1.2 million starlings, 6,832 skunks, 330 mountain lions, 2,172 red foxes, 33,469 beavers, 356 black bears, three bald eagles and two grizzly bears. Have you heard of Wildlife Services?” (excerpt from The Exterminators)
2006
“Wildlife Service kill totals for mammals were up sharply from previous years:
A record number of gray wolves (278), the subject of a highly publicized reintroduction effort, were killed in numbers that are up more than six-fold since 1996;
Another 116,610 mammalian carnivores, including 87,000 coyotes, 10,000 raccoons, 2,500 bobcats, 500 badgers, and 318 black bears were taken by federal wildlife agents who also killed 1,184 house cats and 512 dogs; and
Approximately 50,000 animals from the rodent and rabbit families—the largest toll came from beavers (28,000), followed by nutria (2,500), and marmots and woodchucks (3,700).”
2004-2008
Click this link to see the number of mammalian carnivores killed by Wildlife Services from 2004 through 2008: Beavers aren’t included on the list because they’re in the rodent family but we know Wildlife Services kills large numbers of them each year, 28, 000 in 2006.
We’ve seen the brutal statistics. How do they accomplish this mass killing of America’s wildlife?
From all-creatures.org:
Wildlife Services utilizes killing methods that are non-selective, haphazard, and brutal, including:
Trapping and Snaring
Trapping may be the most inhumane method used by Wildlife Services. Traps can go unchecked for days, allowing the animal to suffer. When not killed outright by the trap, animals can endure physiological trauma, dehydration, exposure to severe weather, and predation by other animals. Most traps are notoriously indiscriminate, capturing almost any animal who triggers them. Non-target species found in traps include endangered species, raptors, dogs, and cats. The most commonly used trap is the steel-jawed leghold trap, a restraining device with spring-loaded jaws that clamp on an animal’s foot or leg when triggered. Leghold traps can cause fractures, self-mutilation, limb amputation, and death. A desperate animal will even try to chew off a limb to escape. Snares are primitive wire nooses that tighten around an animal’s leg or neck. When snared, an animal may struggle for days.
===
Aerial Gunning
Alaskan wolf shot by aerial gunner
“Wildlife Services uses helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to shoot animals from the air. In 2007, the agency killed over 37,000 animals using aircraft. An agency Environmental Assessment revealed many wounded animals may be left to die.[4] Because Wildlife Services uses snowfall to track coyotes in early spring, agents may kill pregnant or lactating females. Deaths of the latter leave pups to starve. Aerial gunning is also used for “preventative predator control,” permitting agents to shoot as many carnivores as they can prior to domestic animals entering an area. The price tag for shooting carnivores from the sky can be high: killing one coyote can cost $1,000.
===
Poisoning
Photo courtesy USDA
In 2005, Wildlife Services used M-44, small devices that shoot cyanide gas into an animal’s mouth when triggered, to kill more than 12,700 animals nationally.
Wildlife Services prefers two toxins to kill predators: Sodium Monofluoroacetate (aka Compound 1080), a rat poison developed by the Nazis during World War II, and sodium cyanide. To distribute 1080, the agency uses Livestock Protection Collars – rubber bladders attached to the neck of a goat or sheep that, when pierced, releases the poison. 1080 is so lethal a single teaspoon can kill 100 people. Wildlife Services also sets M-44 devices, spring-loaded, baited mechanisms that release sodium cyanide into the mouth of any animal who disturbs the device. 1080 and sodium cyanide present serious national security risks. The FBI has listed both as “super poisons” that are “most likely to be used by terrorists or for malicious intent.”
===
Denning
Denning is the practice of tracking carnivores to their dens then killing pups inside. Poisonous gas canisters are placed in dens to asphyxiate pups. Or government agents dig pups out and shoot, club, or decapitate them. Pups have even been burned alive in their den.
Wildlife Services’ lethal control programs ignore the importance of carnivores. As “keystone species,” carnivores play a pivotal role in sustaining ecological integrity and preserving species diversity. For example, large carnivores regulate deer and elk, as well as smaller mammal, populations. The disappearance of top carnivores triggers the loss of other species and the intricate connections among the remaining residents begin to unravel. Many carnivore species need big, wild areas to survive. Wide-ranging animals like grizzly bears are considered “umbrella” species. By protecting habitat for such predators, we save places for many more animal and plant species.””
In just one year, your tax dollars helped kill 252 gray wolves, 72,816 coyotes, 1.2 million starlings, 6,832 skunks, 330 mountain lions, 2,172 red foxes, 33,469 beavers, 356 black bears, three bald eagles and two grizzly bears. Have you heard of Wildlife Services?
Support HR 4775, (UPDATE: It’s now HR4214)“The Compound 1080 & M-44 Elimination Act”, sponsored by Predator Defense. It’s stalled in Congress and needs our help. Please call your representative and ask them to support this important legislation. Eliminating the use of these deadly poisons against wildlife is critical!! Barbarous methods like these do not belong in the 21st century. Make your voice heard!!
====
Conservation groups have continually called on the USDA to end Wildlife Services’ mass killing of predators and other wildlife, yet they still operate with impunity at the bidding of big ranching. What will it take for a policy change in Washington?
Contact President Obama and ask him to abolish this destructive agency, who is poisoning, trapping and shooting America’s wildlife.
President Obama
White House Phone Numbers
202-456-1414 (switchboard) 202-456-1111 (white house comment line)
Eleven member wolf pack in winter, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (2001)
For Immediate Release, April 30, 2012
CHEYENNE, Wyo.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceannounced todaythat Wyoming has passed legislation and an amendment to its wolf-management plan that will meet federal approval and trigger removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the state.
The new law and plan — to take effect later this year when wolves are removed from the federal endangered species list — increase the area of Wyoming where wolves would be designated “predators” and could be killed without limit; they also keep in place a “trophy game management area,” where hunting will be allowed to dramatically reduce wolf populations.
“ Wyoming ’s wolf-management plan is a recipe for wolf slaughter that will only serve to incite more of the prejudice against wolves that led to their destruction in the first place,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has been working for two decades to save and recover wolves throughout the West. “Removal of federal protections for wolves has been a disaster in Idaho and Montana and will be even worse in Wyoming .”
While wolves would remain fully protected within Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, elsewhere in Wyoming they would be subject to shooting, trapping and snaring, including 83 percent of the state where they will be considered “predators” and there will be no limits on their killing. The remaining portion of the state would be considered a “trophy game management area,” where killing wolves would be permitted, with the goal of reducing the population from approximately 29 packs to around 10.
“Along with the killing of wolves in Idaho and Montana , which had their protection taken away last year through a back-door congressional rider, this planned persecution of wolves in Wyoming could be devastating to the beautiful animals’ survival in the northern Rocky Mountains ,” said Robinson. “Killing most of Wyoming ’s wolves will hurt wolves in Colorado , too, where they’re only starting to return by way of Wyoming .”
Since wolf hunting and trapping seasons opened last fall, 378 wolves have been killed in Idaho , which has no cap on killing and several ongoing open seasons. An additional 166 wolves were killed in Montana , which has now closed its season. Contrary to promises, hunting and trapping have appeared to inflame anti-wolf sentiment, with comments and pictures appearing on the Internet that boast of wolf killing and call for more slaughter.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has reopened a two-week comment period, during which feedback is sought from the public before the agency finalizes the delisting rule.
Background
In October 2011 the Obama administration announced finalization of an agreement between the Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead whereby the agency would remove wolves in Wyoming from the federal endangered species list and the state would only be required to keep alive 100 wolves or 10 breeding pairs outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks (which together provide habitat for a few dozen wolves that would remain protected while in the parks).
After pups are born within the next few weeks, it is likely that more than 500 wolves will live outside the national parks in Wyoming . The state plan will allow their unregulated killing throughout most of the state.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 350,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
NIWA/HAA Protests Brutal Wolf Hunts, SandPoint, Idaho
UPDATE February 12, 2012
Wolf Hunt Slaughter @ 452
===
Alright, this is getting scary. The Idaho wolf hunt has slaughtered almost three hundred wolves and it’s just February. Montana’s hunt has killed 156 innocent wolves and these numbers don’t include wolves killed by Wildlife Services and poachers.
Get out your signs, your sharpies, call your friends, stand on a street corner, in front of a fish and game agency, in a mall, in front of your house, wherever. Take you own pictures of your protest/vigil.
You can upload your pics to our FB page and I’ll post them here.
Stand for OR7′s (Journey) brother, OR9, who was recently shot and killed by a hunter with an expired wolf tag. He got a slap on the wrist, a warning, that’s it. Outrageous.
Stand for the innocent Lolo wolves who will soon have buckshot raining down on them from the skies, killed for nothing.
Stand for the pregnant alpha wolves and their unborn puppies who will be shot and killed.
NIWA/HAA Protest, Sandpoint, Idaho
You don’t have to travel to the Northern Rockies, you can do this on your own or with friends. We MUST start speaking out, not just once every six months but as often as possible. Call the media if you’re going to hold a protest or candlelight vigil, no matter how small.
We cannot remain silent!! Wolves are dying fast. They’ve been delivered into the hands of their enemies.
STAND FOR THE WOLVES!
HOWL ACROSS AMERICA AND THE WORLD!
452
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”…Edmund Burke
“There’s No Greater Act of Hospitality Than To Embrace A Stranger As One’s Own.
It’s In Our Nature”
That’s the tag line for a wonderful commercial conceived by Shangri-La Hotels. If you’ve already seen it, you’ll love it all over again and if you haven’t, it will bring you joy and peace.
The making of: It’s In Our Nature
===
Wallpaper: Courtesy Shangri-La TV AD
Videos: Courtesy Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
Posted in: gray wolf, biodiversity, wolf education
Tags: “It’s In Our Nature”, nature and harmony, embracing a stranger, the benevolence of wolves
State biologist dreads Hollywood portrayal of wolves
Attacks on humans, implied in movie’s trailers, extremely rare
Wolves are coming to the big screen today in “The Grey,” a man-versus-beast thriller starring Liam Neeson.
When their plane crashes in Alaska’s frozen wilderness, a bunch of oil-field roughnecks fight for survival. Not only do the men combat cold and hunger, they’re stalked by a wolf pack.
Film previews feature eerie howls and shots of feral eyes glinting in the darkness. When carnage ensues in this R-rated film, the wolves are usually the winners.
But the movie’s portrayal of wolves as man-eaters dismays Gary Wiles.
“My first reaction was, ‘Oh, no!’ ” said Wiles, a wildlife biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It looks totally like a Hollywood-contrived movie: something to strike at people’s basic fears.”
Howling for Justice will continue to highlight this post until the movie opens on January 27, 2012 and beyond. We are happy to see that Wild Earth Guardians has joined the fight and is also calling for a“blacklist of The Grey”.
UPDATE: January 17, 2012
As if there aren’t enough reasons to dislike this movie, add the sickening fact that Liam Neeson and the cast of ”The Grey” actually ate wolf meat while making this ”movie”. The thought of them eating the flesh of the ancestor of our beloved dogs, makes me physically ill.
I guess Hollywood doesn’t have anything better to do then demonize wolves. With two wolf hunts mowing down wolves in the Northern Rockies, aerial gunning planned in Idaho’s Lolo zone, wolves in the Great Lakes coming off the endangered species list, facing brutal hunts, Hollywood decided this would be a good time to make a movie about killer wolves.
Wolves are the least dangerous of large predators in North America.
THERE HAS NOT BEEN ONE FATAL WOLF ATTACK ON HUMANS IN THE LOWER FORTY EIGHT IN OVER A HUNDRED YEARS OF RECORD KEEPING.
There have been two controversial human/wolf fatal encounters in North America, in the last century, that’s it. You have a better chance of accidentally being killed by hunters (100 fatal hunting accidents per year in the US and Canada with another 1000 injured) or have your child shot @ a bus stop. It’s not wolves parents should worry about @ bus stops but stray bullets from hunters.
Our beloved dogs, kill another 30 people or more a year and bite approx. 4.7 million people annually. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs but those are the facts.
Deer/vehicle accidents claim at least 200 lives every year and cause billions of dollars in damages. You know why there are so many deer? The fish and game agencies make sure predators are targeted and their numbers kept low. Then deer populations explode causing hundreds of thousands of auto accidents.
In Canberra, the capital of Australia, they’ve decimated the dingoes, the kangaroo’s only natural predator. Around the city there’s been an explosion of the Roo population. The Roos hop into the city at night, munch on people’s lawns, get hit by cars and chased by dogs. These are “urban kangaroos”, pushed into the city by drought, dwindling habitat and their own over-population. When Roo numbers get too high “wildlife managers” control them by “culling/killing” kangaroos by the thousands. Roo mothers are shot in the head during “the culls” and their little pouched “Joeys” are either decapitated or their skulls are crushed.
Australia isn’t any better at “managing” their wildlife then we are. They eliminate the top predator, the dingo, who could prevent kangaroo overpopulation. Instead, kangaroo numbers go up and the guns come out.
The same happens in America with deer. Natural predators are eliminated, the deer population explodes and you have a recipe for disaster.
All because “wildlife managers” are short-sighted and listen to the hunting and ranching cabals instead of doing what’s right and healthy for our ecosystems.
===
A woman was recently killed by flying deer parts (head and shoulders). The deer had been cut in half in another accident.
Woman driver killed by flying deer parts
December 29, 2011 9:41AM
POLICE in western Pennsylvania say a woman was killed when part of a deer struck by another vehicle went through her windshield and hit her.
People die from bee stings, are fatally stomped by moose, run over by trains, approx. 90 people are killed by lightning strikes each year, in 2010 14, 748 people were murdered in the US, I could go on and on.
My point? Wolf attacks are VERY RARE. So rare that making a movie about killer wolves is ridiculous. Wolves DO NOT need more bad press, the anti-wolf crowd spends their waking hours spreading myths and lies about wolves. Just because someone came up with this lame-brained idea of a movie, doesn’t mean it had to be made. It will do nothing but hurt wolves, just like the movie Jaws hurt the image of sharks. 70 to 90 million sharks are killed every year around the world.
Please boycott this movie!!
You can picket your local theater where “The Grey” will be playing but personally I think that draws more attention, people love controversy. BUT do contact the theater complex and let them know how you and your friends feel about this movie and that you’ll be staying away.
I call on the producer and director to re-consider what they’re doing. Are they not aware of the nasty campaign being waged against wolves across this country but specifically in the Northern Rockies? Have they not done their homework? Do they care? Wolf haters don’t need help from Hollywood to persecute wolves. What happened to all the environmentalists in the movie industry? Will they be silent and allow this misunderstood, highly intelligent, social animal to be characterized as something they’re not?
At the very least a disclaimer is needed, wolves rarely ever attack people. They are shy and reclusive, dedicated to their families. The exception to wolves exhibiting extreme fear of humans is when wolves been habituated to human presence, as in Yellowstone National Park. where because of their rock star status, they are exposed to people on a regular basis. Visitors are fascinated by these iconic animals and can’t get enough of them. Wolves generate at least 35 million dollars annually to the GYA (Greater Yellowstone Area). Yellowstone wolves do tolerate human presence because they don’t perceive humans as threats inside the park. Outside the park is a different story, since these wolves are so used to people they are easy targets. The most unfortunate incident happened during Montana’s 2009 wolf hunt, when FWP opened the hunt right outside park boundaries. Wolves routinely move in and out of the park because they can’t read signs. Hunters took advantage of this and decimated the studied and famous Cottonwood Pack, killing the alpha male and female and their powerful daughter. When the alpha pair is killed the pack usually disperses.
Shame on the director and producers of this film. They should visit the Northern Rockies, where brutal wolf hunts are in full swing and see for themselves the hatred and scapegoating wolves are subjected to.
Please read Bill Gibson’s article in the LA Times, to get up to speed on what wolves are being subjected to. Maybe you’d understand how damaging “The Grey” will be to wolves and why advocates are so upset over this.
The new war on wolves
Op-Ed
As soon as federal protection ended, the slaughter began.
More examples of persecution. The Safari Club and others are providing incentives for hunters to go out and kill wolves and make
darn sure Montana meets it’s 220 dead wolf quota by February 15, 2012. February 15, 2012 is an extension from the original wolf hunt end date of December 31, 2012. Montana FWP moved the goalposts.
are dead in the Montana/Idaho wolf hunts as of o1/20/12. And this is only January. Idaho’s wolf hunt runs through June 2012, in the Lolo and Selway zones, A TEN MONTH LONG HUNT!! Wolves in Idaho are dying painful deaths in brutal traps and choking snares.
Is there nothing Hollywood won’t do to make a buck? Not only does this movie unfairly depict wolves but it will contribute to the escalating wolf demonization.
===
Contact information for “The Grey”, courtesy of Justin Forte:
Please take a few moments to contact those involved with this “movie”. Tell them how you feel about it and why. Be direct, polite and to the point. Let them know you are boycotting “The Grey”. Be sure to mention there are thousands of outraged wolf advocates, who are also movie goers. We are spreading the word, we don’t want to contribute to profits made off the backs of wolves.
Demand a disclaimer in the opening and closing credits. This movie is a misrepresentation of wild wolves. They are not blood thirsty, human stalking killers, as the movie depicts.
===
Contact:: Open Road Films and Liam Neeson .
Open Road Films
12301 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 600
Santa Monica, California 90025.
Telephone: 310-696-7575. Fax: 310-571-2278.
Liam’ Neeson’s publicist is: Alan Nierob, Rogers & Cowan Public Relations, Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, 7th Floor, Los Angeles, California 90069. Telephone: 310-854-8100
Thank You. The wolves thank you!!
===
WildEarth Guardians Joins The Fight to Boycott “The Grey”
Wolves are under attack, having lost Endangered Species Act protection in many states, placing them in the crosshairs of a vocal minority in agribusiness and hunting groups who refuse to tolerate this ecologically vital carnivore. Hundreds have already been killed this winter and now Hollywood has jumped on the hysteria bandwagon by perpetuating the stereotype of wolves as evil and violent in the new film, “The Grey.”
Please join WildEarth Guardians in sending a strong message to the film director and boycotting “The Grey” so that anti-wolf profiteers like director Joe Carnahan won’t benefit from this terrible film.
Here is a true wild wolf encounter with the added treat of seeing a grizzly sow with cubs. Do these wolves look like bloodthirsty killers who stalk people? Absolutely not.
Please visit Brad Joseph’s Wildlife Videos on YouTube and see how a true naturalist appreciates and photographs our vital apex predators, like the wolf and grizzly bear.
This is HFJ’s third New Year and I feel very lucky to have so many loyal readers who care about wolves, wildlife and wild places.
Thank you for standing with me and the wolves through thick and thin. I couldn’t have done it without you!! May this be a better year for the wild ones.
This blog is dedicated to the memory of Wolf 253, the beloved Yellowstone Druid wolf named Limpy, who was shot and killed in March 08, on the very day ESA protections were lifted for the gray wolf, by the then Bush Administration.
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
