OR 7/Journey (Photo Richard Shinn Associated Press)
Looks like Journey/OR7 has found a few friends. He’s still vacationing in the Golden State and was recently spotted romping with several coyotes. Normally wolves and coyotes are not friendly but when you’re the only wolf in California it can get awfully lonely.
Wolves are social animals so I’m sure he’s pining for canine company, even the little “song dogs” will do.
===
California’s lone wolf seen mingling with coyotes
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The lone wolf of California may not be as lonely as the experts thought.
The gray wolf, known to scientists as OR7 and to wolf advocates as Journey, was spotted last week in Modoc County cavorting with a group of coyotes.
Karen Kovacs, the wildlife program manager for the California Department of Fish and Game, said state biologists, game wardens and a federal trapper were in the southwestern part of the county Tuesday to discuss with ranchers the presence of the wolf, which had been tracked by GPS signals to the area.
Odd flirtation with coyotes
At one point the group members stopped and scanned with their binoculars a sagebrush-covered hillside, and to their shock and delight, there stood the most famous canine in California.
“He was about 100 yards away and looking toward them. He may have heard their voices and came out to investigate,” Kovacs said. “Then he moved off and was subsequently joined by coyotes.”
Kovacs said two of the three coyotes came up right next to the 90- to 100-pound wolf.
“They were in very close proximity to OR7,” she said. “I think it was kind of a mutual thing. Maybe there had been some prior contact. They did go off in the same direction together, but shortly after that OR7 went off by himself and then disappeared out of view.”
Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/12/BAMM1OGAMM.DTL#ixzz1upTdwmzY
Photo: Courtesy Richard Shinn Associated Press
Posted in: California wolf, biodiversity
Tags: OR 7/Journey, Lone wolf, coyotes, California, Golden State
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
Howling For Justice 
Love this! maybe they’ll hang together until he finds a mate!
LikeLike
Why did you just send me a message to “subscribe?” It follwed this one!
LikeLike
The big concerns I have are actually doubled now that OR-7 is “hanging out with coyotes”. After attending Carter Neimeyer’s talk in Yreka on Thursday I was alarmed at the amount of fear, ignorance and outright hatred towards wolves in the room. I thought California was a more enlightened place but I guess the redneck cowboy ethos lives here too (note, I am the grandson of a successful cattleman so I think I’m entitled to this opinion). Of particular concern is the fact that CA DFG is posting updates on OR-7’s location on their website. Granted they are delaying the posts by a day or so but since OR-7 tends to stay in an area for a while before moving on and also has a tendency to retrace his routes this gives a poacher a great opportunity to take him out.
Worse, coyotes are subject to more aggressive “management” than any other predator as documented in the Sacramento Bee article on this rogue agency. OR-7 could easily become a victim of coyote control efforts as a result of his new association.
Neimeyer also said that should OR-7 mate with a coyote the female and any pups would be destroyed to prevent hybridization — never mind that if this occurred it would be a natural phenomenon and of great interest to biologists…
My hope is that OR-7’s radio collar fails and he can find a way to remain out of sight and harms way until he finds the love he’s looking for.
LikeLike
I know, he might be well accompanied, but the brutality towards coyotes is even worse, the only difference is that their numbers aren’t as alarmingly low as the wolves’, still it would be an interesting scientific happening that OR7 would mate with one of the coyotes, but I also think that OR7 should remain out of sight if he is not going to have a bodyguard following him at all times protecting him from those who for some reason fervently want to destroy earth’s most valuable treasures..
LikeLike
This was 3rd article in SF Chronicle in last week+ – same journalist – to whom I have sent several e-mails asking him to check out your site – also sent the last one w/picture of that beautiful dead Wolf – I asked him to check out your articles and references for the future fight that will take place here-he does not respond, but hopefully is reading all of this! I am terrified to check paper daily for fear the yahoo’s that live in the hills (and must be related to that mess in Idaho, etc.) will have killed him. It doesn’t help that the DFG is headed by the Mtn. Lion killer – hopefully he does not want to “eat” the Wolf as he said he did w/ the Mtn. Lion he killed in Idaho where it is legal! “We” outlawed leg-traps in ’98 and now working on dog-packs “they” want to use to chase down these poor animals-you would think it enough they have a gun! I say put a collar on all the yahoo’s and send warning to animals they are coming!
LikeLike
while it seems nice that OR-7 has some companionship, i fear this liason will only double the hunt on both creatures:coyotes and wolves..we have such a vigilante attitude towards coyotes here in t he southeastern u.s. ..what’s to say this will not fan the fire!!!i can only keep working to do my part in raising awareness and fighting the ignorance people have towards our predators.i think i would keep this new connection with the coyotes low -key …
LikeLike
http://www.capitalpress.com/content/TH-niemeyer-w-photos-infobox-051112#.T7Eh0NcfhBA.facebook
Interesting report that tries to put some common sense into the situation.
LikeLike
Yep…it’s all about the hype, they have to keep the lies going otherwise they’ve got nothing.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/wildlife/article_aceb1ad2-9caf-11e1-9b40-001a4bcf887a.html
LikeLike
kaufmans123…and the war on wolves continues unabated.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
it is sad that OR7s whereabouts is put out publicly for all poachers and hunters to see. i think this should be private only with the folks who run that damn gps collar. it is interesting to follow yes, but it puts OR7 in such evil eyes that would give anything to see him dead. just to know hes ok is good enough for me. his location does not need to be given. california is a pretty big state in itself. and just like the wolves, coyote are only doing what they need to in order to survive also. its a shame that every predator on this planet has to be killed off only due to they exist. pretty sure it was not the creator’s intentions for man to kill off HIS beautiful creatures like they are.
LikeLike
I agree Mary but I think the info they gave out is pretty broad and the picture is vague. His collar is the problem as they are for all wolves although in his case it might be more of a help because if he was un-collared he could be killed and buried without anyone knowing what happened to him. It’s such a horrible shame these animals are so persecuted, over 400 years of it, just because the Europeans brought their wolf killing ways with them.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
oh i do agree about the collar. its probably the only thing saving him right now. i wish more of the lower 48 states would allow the transition of wolves in the wild parts of their states. like nebraska. north carolina, west virginia, iowa. but people will flip as they are not educated on the wolf and expect the wolf to be this big bad being. but the wolf in these states would truly cut down on the deer over population and save lives of thousands of people a year that have accidents with a deer. if they want to thin out these states of the wolves, instead of killing them off, replace them.
LikeLike
100% AGREED!
LikeLike
Welcome to the wonderful world of delisting. I thought it was a statewide management plan, not county or local level? How far will it go before the wolves are put back on the endangered list. Devious.
“I believe our ancestors killed wolves for a reason.” says Montana State Sen. Debby Barrett.
Actually there are several “reasons”: greed, profit, irrational fear and ignorance, to name a few. 😦
LikeLike
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell Ida but we screamed to the high heavens when wolves were first delisted. We all knew what would happen once the states got their hands on them. Wolves are too persecuted to be off the list. The ESA is tailor made for a species like the wolf. I don’t think they can exist in the lower 48 without it.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
WELL OUR ANCESTORS WERE IN OLD TIMES. THIS IS A NEW CENTURY AND ERA. ISNT IT ABOUT TIME FOR THE WORLD TO STOP HATING ON THE PREDATORS IN OUR WILDLIFE? OUR ANCESTORS KILLED THEM FOR FUR TRADE AS IT WAS A WAY FOR MAKING MONEY BACK THEN. TODAY THERE ARE MORE JOBS AND CLOSER COMMUNITIES FOR A REAL PLACE TO GET A JOB. IF YOU WANT TO SHOOT ANIMALS, USE A CAMERA. ALSO, TO ME THE WOLF IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE BALD EAGLE & BISON. OUR ANCESTORS KILLED THEM FOR A REASON???? DID ANYONE STOP TO THINK THAT THESE ANIMALS ARE HERE FOR A REASON? THEY REALLY ARE.
LikeLike
I guess the word “predator” needs to be redefined as well, people hear the word and think of some vicious beast who must be exterminated on sight but we must teach them that is not true..OR7 might be lonely, but his strength might be indomitable with the support of people who do know predators as those creatures in charge of keeping the balance in ecosystems and populations, we must also teach people that they are important for the ecosystems…
LikeLike
highly agreed daniel. actually did you know that alaska is holding off for at LEAST a year before any more wolves can be killed aerially? they are going to do some REAL scientific studies to probe its not the wolf killing off the caribu herds. its that they dont have enough willow trees which gives the caribu reason to thrive. i found that a piece of good news today!!!
LikeLike
And in her ancestors’ day, there were a lot more wolves in the lower 48 – there are hardly any now. Her “logic” is rather flawed. Has anybody challenged this amendment?
LikeLike
I really wish the FWP would grow a pair and do their jobs right, I really do. 😦
People with conflicts of interest should not be elected to public office. Ranchers can never be fair and impartial. What a racket they’ve got set up in the Western states. I hope her number comes up in November, and she is voted out and Tester is an incumbent in the US Senate. You can see she is ensuring her own reelection by kowtowing to ranching interests. Montana and Wyoming should feel the pinch of a boycott in tourism.
LikeLike
KEN SALAZAR ALSO KNOWN AS KAN SLAUGHTERCZAR IS A RANCHER. THAT ITSELF SAYS A LOT ABOUT WHY OUR STUPID SECRETARY OF INTERIOR HAS NO CARE OR LOVE FOR A SINGLE WOLF. HES IN THE POCKETS OF THE RANCHERS.
LikeLike
And who nominated him in this key position and is deaf to all the petitions to remove him because of such a huge conflict of interest? Our president!
LikeLike
Exactly Astrid… Obama nominated Salazar and let him run our wolves and wild horses into the ground. Obama delisted wolves twice in three years. He signed the budget bill with the wolf rider and no judicial review intact. He is one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had. I’m not a Democrat or Republican but if I had to pick a party before Obama I would have picked the Dems. No more. There is no difference between them anymore. The Dems sold out wolves and now we have a wolf holocaust on our hands. If only Hilary had been elected, this would never have happened on her watch. Her husband reintroduced wolves and had a terrific Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt. The last three years of Obama have been a nightmare for wolves and wild horses. Even domestic horse slaughter is back, what a tragedy, after people worked so hard to ban it. I could go on and on. It’s just heartbreaking what he’s done.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
That’s something unheard of…what a beautiful campaign the first African American president has ran this years…it is not for being racist ,and I’m not, it’s just that to prove that many people are wrong on african Americans Obama should have made a difference doing what is CORRECT not what others asked or voted for…how come their votes to destroy wolves were heard an our petitions to STOP THE SLAUGHTER have been ignored? does that make sense?
For the wolves, our brothers, Daniel..
LikeLike
Here’s an article with Sen. Tester shamelessly politicizing an innocent creature to further his own agenda – a “see what I did for ya?” shameless bid to ensure his own re-election:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-tester-faces-formidable-challenge-in-montana-reelection-campaign/2011/04/25/AFW5no7G_story_2.html
LikeLike
I’m almost willing to vote for Romney just for a regime change replacingt Ken Salazar! Oil runs itself with little or no interference from DC, Big Ag runs itself, Wall Street definitely runs itself and the country, and whether or not global warming will be accepted as science is all academic now anyway – it’s really too late to fix or mitigate it. You can’t tell a Democrat from a Republican anymore anyway – it’s almost as if they’re all saying: “Keep the hick states busy killing wolves and we’ll take care of the real business.” 😦
LikeLike
romney is worse than obama. hes never known a day of poverty in his life. he puts his dog on top of his car for 12 hour rides in a crate. i dont like romney one bit. but yes we need a different person to replace salazar. do we really have a choice out there? no. who knows what ron paul has to offer for anything. nobody lets him speak. but something HAS to be done. and yeah, global warming cant be changed. the damage is done. even polar bears are losing their homes and lives. when man”kind” realizes what they have done to our mother earth, it will be too late.
LikeLike
‘he puts his dog on top of his car for 12 hour rides in a crate.’
I know, I honestly could not believe someone could do this. The poor dog must have been terrified, and also I read where he became ill. If the dog can’t ride in the car with the family, you shouldn’t have one. It is truly sickening. But the things going on (and not going on) for the environment and conservation under Salazar are frightening too, such as cozying up with Monsanto and planting GMO crops in wildlife refuges and exempting it from environmental review!). Our President is an urban intellectual and I don’t think the environment and certainly not wildlife are on his radar screen. Putting aside a few acres for a public park in the cities is probably what he envisions as conservation.
LikeLike
To add on to Mary Wolfe’s comment Alaska’s willows are also human medicine. It’s used for the immune system. I read and saved the same article. Also the biologists are not seeing any ravens. No wolf kill carcasses for food. Alaska like the rest of the “wolf” states will pay dearly for their stupidity.
LikeLike
More on the ways of snaring and trapping, and Wildlife Services,
http://eugeneweekly.com/article/un-bearable
LikeLike
I have never understood WHY animal killers are in charge of animal welfare? Salazar is one nightmare but there is also Vilsek(sp.?) @Dept. of Agriculture – he is in charge of “inspecting” slaughter houses, animal welfare act AND deciding if Montana or Idaho will have airplanes @their disposal to kill the Wolves! Between them they are in charge of the mess in the Gulf – it is all so big and so ouot of control the animals do not stand a chance. Yes, I am very disappointed in Obama but I do not think he cares one whit about environment and animals – the dog is for show. However, it would be even worse w/ a republican in office – that guy from Oklahoma (Imhoff) wants to gut the EDS act! so unfortunately we have no choice but vote democrat and hope for the best!
LikeLike
Pat…I could never vote for Obama after what he’s done!! Wolves have suffered the tortures of the damned because of him. And for what, so they can keep control of the Senate and help Tester get re-elected? We have to face it, we have no choice and that’s the sad truth.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
^^Yes, keeping a Democratic majority at all costs I think is the name of the game. There’s no honor in politics whatsoever. Only marginally better than the GOPs. But – if President Obama would replace Salazar, I’d vote for him. And if I would hear him talk about wildlife conservation even once during his term. He did mention salmon in a speech.
LikeLike
My state will vote Democratic, so how I vote won’t make a hill of Monsanto genetically-altered beans bit of difference – but I will vote with my conscience for a third party.
LikeLike
I doubt anyone will beleive me, but here goes: I could have told you that this was happening. Last summer i found wolf tracks (of one wolf) mingled (made at the smae time. any tracker worth their salt can tell approx time a print was made),with the tracks of about 15 or 20 coyotes. We even had them come up into our yard (we lived in the backwoods of northern CA) and stand outside our house and HOWL (scaring the wits out of our dogs and myself! lol) I knew then that what i was witnessing was rare indeed, as wolves and coy dont usually hang out together. Now I wish id took pics of those tracks, so other people would beleive me. Oh well. wonders never cease, do they? 🙂 Im so happy OR-7 is doing good, and maybe he’ll hook up with the wolf whose tracks i found last summer. (and YES i know the diff btwn wolf, dog and coy tracks!)
My prayers are with OR7.
LikeLike
OH, ONE MORE THING I must NOTE!! THE SUMMER THE WOLF AND COYOTIES WERE ALL OVER THE VALLEY WE LIVED IN-(LAST SUMMER)–NOT ONE SINGLE LIVESTOCK ANIMAL WENT MISSING. ONLY THE OVERPOPULATION OF THE BIG SCARY BARN-RATS DISSAPEARED!!!!
LikeLike
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/02/-rancher-hopes-for-wolves.html
A rancher thinking positive.
LikeLike
Wow, best thing I’ve heard all day! 🙂
LikeLike
http://hinessight.blogs.com/hinessight/2012/02/wolf-phobic-ranchers-need-therapy-not-hb-4158.html
An Oregon man with a point of view.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Here’s a little talk that can be given in some meeting or something like that…I hope it helps…
Hello I think it’s imperative that I tell you all why you’re here, well maybe you already know, maybe not, but one thing is for sure what you’ll learn today right here will tell you a lot of what happens out there in the world and even tough we have al this communication technology we are still ignorant before the atrocities happening in our own country. In the year of 2011 the Congress passed a bill to do something that will forever badly damage something that some of us treasure with our lives, America’s wildlife and wildlands, but what concerns me even more than anything is the wolves that have been culled since this January as the hunt started, yet, this si no usual hunt, this people have declared a total war towards this animals as they are using methods that doesn’t involve the art of hunting by any means, you’ll see what I mean, Sodium Cyanide, steeljaw traps, denning, aerial shooting and other unscientific and unethical methods of depriving this animals from their lives. Now we must do something, this animals ARE now endangered, they had always been, because as soon as any regulation on their hunts is removed they are always killed towards the very brink of their extinction, please tell me if 150 wolves solely in Idaho are a sustainable population…of course not. As another piont of this many people, maybe those present today may think of wolves as dangerous beasts that must be kept at bay or destroyed in sight, but let me please tell you that you are far more than wrong…this animals are very shy towards people and will even leave their meal alone for any incoming person, it’s a very big truth that what you have heard from “The red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs” are anything more than lies. As any animal, they must defend themselves and their younglings from environmental hazards, just as a curious human prowling near their dens where their defenseless pups are hiding, but let me tell you something, there have been no documented fatal wolf attacks on people in the last 100 years, hard to.believe isn’t it? but the truth is sometimes harder to accept when we live in a world full of lies, and even if there have been any, as for any wild animal the attacker is always us, they just defend themselves and their families. Another argument I have heard from people who have devoted themselves to push this cratures towards the brink of their extinction is that wolves prey on livestock, but, do we really have to declare a total war to them for the one or two cows they ever dare to prey on a whole year? can’t we share a little bit of our resources with man’s best friend? I think, yes we can. if we were to put together all the left overs of meat we throw away from the livestock we raise, we would be able to feed all the wolves in the world, and this id s hard to believe too, but again, it’s true. Wolves are not passive predators, which means they do play a very important role in keeping the balance of the ecosystem in which they reside, just as removing those ill moose and elk from their herds keeping it healthy and preventing them as well from overgrazing and overpopulating the area causing draughts and earth infertility and most of our concern, people being in danger, ghere have been hundreds of road accidents regarding people trying to evade these elk crossing roads as they have to somewhere else as they have wiped all the grass which they fed on, people try to evade this animals and run into a tree or hit the moose and lose control of their vehicles, there have been even reported accidents that involve the anthers of elk and moose that are broken when a motor vehicle hits them but those anthers are projected directly to the windshield of another driver breaking it with ease and eventually, killing the driver, unheard of isn’t it? But that could’ve been prevented if we just have let our friends the wolves do their jobs in keeping the delicate balance of the ecosystems, but they just can’t as they’re being massacred and turned into hats for some taxidermist’s profit. There’s not much to tell rather than, this animals need our support, protection and respect and ghe complete opposite is what we’re giving them so I invite you people tl think about what is happening in the country you live on, think if this beautiful animals really deserve what they’re getting from us, because I think, no, I know that they do not.
LikeLike
Thank you Daniel!!
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
http://www.esasuccess.org/
This is why wolves must be relisted, the ESA IS a law protecting this creatures, unfortunately ghe penalties for their slaughtering are not as harsh as yhosd implemented for say, serial assassins. In my personal opinion, I don’t understand who or what grants us the right to state that the life of a person is worth far more than the life of a wolf or any other animals. We are all equal, we are one of the ultimate creations of evolution and we should not be against each other..So I think that each and every being who sets foot on america is protected by the unalienable right of the right to EXIST…
LikeLike
It is a sad day if Journey is the only wolf left in California hope the killers are happy.They have the right to exist just as we do.The people who kill other people are the same as the animal killers.
LikeLike
The lengths some people go to, and the damage they can do;
Alaska Trapper Uses Dead Horse as Wolf Bait, and Snares Important Female Wolf from Denali National Park
Rick Steiner / Oasis Earth / May 18, 2012
In an incident somewhat reminiscent of the “bad old days” of the Wild West, a trapper from Healy, Alaska apparently hauled a dead horse out to an area off the Stampede Trail near the boundary of Denali National Park – an area made famous by the 1996 book “Into the Wild” – and set snares all around the area hoping to catch wolves attracted to the carcass. Wolves from Denali National Park were drawn to the dead horse, resulting in the killing of a primary reproductive female wolf from the Grant Creek (also called Toklat West) pack from the park, along with at least one other wolf. It is unknown how long the two wolves were alive in the snares before being killed and collected by the trapper. In addition, the only other breeding female from the Grant Creek pack was just found dead yesterday near her den, and thus it seems certain that there will be no pups in this pack this year. The Grant Creek wolf pack has been one of the three packs most often viewed in Denali National Park.
The snares, set by Healy guide Coke Wallace, were on state lands along the north border of the national park, and within the former protected “Denali buffer” where from 2002 – 2010 trapping and hunting of wolves was prohibited to protect the park’s wolves. Ignoring several proposals and hundreds of supporting comments from citizens in 2010 to expand the no-take Denali wolf buffer zone – including a proposal from Denali National Park itself – the Alaska Board of Game instead eliminated the protective buffer altogether. At the same time, the Board also imposed a moratorium on future consideration of any Denali wolf protection buffer proposals until 2016. Some have questioned the legality of the Board restricting public process in such a way.
While the Stampede snares were required to be removed by the May 1 close of the trapping season, the dead horse remains at the site (see attached May 6 photo), continuing to be a nuisance attractant to bears and other wildlife (note the recent public safety hazard caused by the attraction of a brown bear to carcasses dumped along the Seward highway near Anchorage). And the rotting horse carcass is just 1/2 mile upstream from a cabin owned by Susan and Dave Braun of Healy, right next to, and below the high-water level of, the stream where they, and others downstream, get their drinking water.
While the Alaska State Troopers and Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADFG) say the incident does not violate state law, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is looking at potential violations of state water quality regulations, which prohibit discarding carcasses in surface waters of the state.
The Grant Creek wolf family group (“pack”) may be one of the longest-studied vertebrate lineages in the world, dating back at least to the 1930s when Adolf Murie studied them in the park. The pack’s home territory is eastern Denali, and as it is one of the packs most viewed from the Denali park road, it is considered a high value resource for the several hundred thousand visitors that visit the park each summer (see attached photos of the Grant Creek pack from Dr. Gordon Haber).
Of concern in this incident is that the Grant Creek female was killed just after the mating season for Denali wolves (which is late February – early March), and thus it is likely that she was pregnant with what would have been a new litter of pups (perhaps this family group’s only litter), when she was killed. Last year, park service biologists observed her nursing pups at the ancient Murie den, thus she would likely have been preparing to do so again this year. As such, her death causes a significant loss of new pups/recruitment to this important pack, and thus a loss of viewing opportunities for the many thousands of visitors to the park wanting to see wolves in the wild.
Research by the late Dr. Gordon Haber, who studied Denali wolves for over 40 years before he died in a plane crash conducting wolf surveys in the park in 2009, has clearly shown that the loss of even one reproductive female from a pack not only leads to the loss of that individual and all of her future pups, but also can cause significant effects to the social dynamics, behavior, distribution, and integrity of the entire pack. Park service surveys show that Denali wolf populations are significantly reduced from what they were several years ago, and one of the likely reasons is the continued take by hunters and trappers along the northeast boundary of the park.
“If anyone needed more evidence that the Denali buffer is essential to protect park wolves, here it is,” said Rick Steiner, an Alaska biologist who was a friend and colleague of Dr. Haber’s. “For one guy in Healy to earn a few dollars for a wolf pelt, the state of Alaska has sacrificed the extraordinary value of these living wolves to hundreds of thousands of park visitors. I will be formally requesting ADFG Commissioner Cora Campbell to issue an emergency closure of state lands in the area to wolf trapping and hunting before the season is set to reopen this November, in order to protect Denali wolves from this continuing threat.”
Alaska writer Marybeth Holleman, who is completing a book on Denali wolves and Haber’s research, said, “Because Haber is no longer studying these wolves, we don’t know as much about this female as we could. However, based on his research, it’s likely she was the only pregnant female in the group this year, and without any pups as a ‘social glue’ for this summer, this most-viewed family group may disintegrate and disappear from the park entirely.”
Steiner has submitted proposals to the next round of Board of Game meetings (in 2013) to: 1) rescind the Board’s moratorium on Denali buffer proposals, 2) impose a no-take buffer along the south boundary of the park, and 3) to shorten the hunting/trapping season for wolves statewide to November 1 – March 1, to protect pregnant females in spring and dependent pups in the fall.
Contact:
Rick Steiner, Professor and Conservation Biologist
Oasis Earth, Anchorage
907-360-4503
richard.g.steiner@gmail.com
LikeLike
kaufmans123..There is actually a horrific video by some trapper guy that was leading a very old horse out into the woods to be used as bait to catch a wolf. These people will stoop at anything, no empathy, nothing, I’d imagine a big lump of coal where their hearts used to be.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
LikeLike
It is reckoned that 1 in every 150 people has a psychotic condition, to some degree or other, a lot of people, even in every day jobs or careers of importance, doctors, lawyers etc., hide or cope with it and the major part of this condition is as you say, lack of empathy, of how other people and certainly animals feel for their fellow companions. I am afraid it is to me, endemic of the behaviour of many human beings, a sort of default mechanism that we can and do return to. We have the intellectual capacity to know we must treat everything with respect and that there is indeed a reason and purpose behind everything, although as R. D. Lawrence said, ‘nature is careless about the individual, but careful of the species’. We are a conflicted animal or at least we have become one this past 150 years with the rise in our power, brought on by the Industrial Revolution, for instance our killing capacity has outstripped our needs and feeds our wants, if these guys had to hunt with spears and such, their success rate would be diminished greatly. We, us and the everyday person have to have a change of conciousness towards our lives our interaction with each other and our planet, but we hear, especially now in these austere times, calls for growth, expansion to satisfy our wants rather than our needs and to cling on to ‘power’. We have to find a way of combining our ‘linear’ lifestyles with natures ability to ‘live within the revolution of the days’. Though I fear time maybe against us, listening to a BBC radio programme on the past 5 extinctions this planet had endured, it seems we are creating the conditions necessary for a sixth, but at a speed far greater than before. Perhaps we are powerless to oppose this, life will take its course and a new species will arise…..maybe the wolf?
LikeLike
How awful. I hope someday these cruel people are caught in their own loop. 😦
LikeLike
Unfortunately the authorities are aware of this, but nothing is done about it, instead the authorities promote this kind of brutal attacks against wolves and have even paid bounty hunters to massacre them…it by now seems we arw all on our own fighting for our lupine brothers as none of our petitions and even beggings have been heard, and I am sure they have been ignored on purpose…
LikeLike
The wolves need to have some kind of special status, because unlike other animals there is so much irrational hate for them they need to be protected from it or they are going the route of the 1800s again. It’s really dismaying to see that this mindset hasn’t changed since then in the 21st century. The wolves need to be put back on the ES list, be listed as Threatened (because they literally are), or the Feds need to step in somehow to make sure that these states manage them properly, because they are not capable of it on their own. i’m still waiting for the budget rider debacle to be corrected . . .
LikeLike
I just don’t understand why they have to be “managed”, they’re NOT objects..we manage our files or political affairs, but why do we take for granted the right to dispose of living beings as we please? how come we have the mentality that we can be “mowing” the wolf populations not caring of their suffering and struggle? we have turned our country into Nazi Germany..AND WE ARE THE NAZIS..we have unleashed a Holocaust towards wolves, we are torturing and killing them in masses..does that sound any familiar to you?
LikeLike
It does – I don’t know why we feel we have the right to control the natural world and wipe and animal right out of our country because a few loudmouths find them “inconvenient”. It also sounds familiar because in hard economic times, people need a scapegoat to take the blame. It’s irrational, but there it is. In other times people were made the scapegoat, and in our current age it’s animals. Wolves have always been scapegoats for centuries, and what’s sad is that they have been the brunt of so much abuse and hatred *for no reason at all*, simply the irrational thoughts, fear, competition and greed of humans. It’s not exactly the same as racism, sexism, and homophobia, but the *mindset* is the same. Animals can’t talk back. I can’t stand it, in a so-called forward thinking and reason-oriented country such as our own! 😦
LikeLike
I have to say, this made me go “aawwww”.
LikeLike