Trapped, Tortured Wolf Did Not Die In Vain….

A trapper posing for the camera  with a  wounded wolf in the background caught in  a leghold trap  (Photo Courtesy Earth Island Journal)

The picture has now become iconic. A beautiful, black wolf, caught in a leghold trap, wounded, STILL ALIVE, blood soaking the snow around him, holding his injured foot off the ground, with the face of a trapper mugging for the camera.

The situation had become something of an arena sport because the trapped wolf was shot at by “hunters” just  having a little “fun”??  What a blast (pun intended) that must have been for them to fire on a trapped, defenseless animal?  Right?? Whoever shot at that wolf should be charged with a crime, this was animal torture and cruelty at its worst.  BUT, was what they did anymore cruel than trapping the wolf in the first place? Who knows how long he’d been tethered to that trap without food or water, frightened, shot and bleeding?

Initially the photo was downloaded from a trapping website and  posted on Footloose Montana’s Facebook page, which received hundreds of comments. On Monday Footloose received a vile, threatening email which prompted them to contact the authorities.

As sad as this story is the picture exposed the cruelty and torture of  the wolf for all to see, having the opposite effect of that which it was intended.  His image has become the face of the repulsive, ugly practice of trapping. It’s not a sport, it’s  medieval torment that belongs in the 5th century,  NOT in a civilized society.

  With his suffering exposed, will this animal’s tragic final moments on earth, caught on camera, finally be the  wake up call for America to say NO MORE??

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Photos of live, trapped wolf prompt threats to Missoula-based group

March 29, 2012
Written By John S. Adams

HELENA — A Missoula-based anti-trapping organization said it received a threatening email this month after the group posted graphic photos on the Internet of a live Idaho wolf caught in a foot-hold trap.

READ MORE:

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20120330/NEWS01/203300316/Photos-live-trapped-wolf-prompt-threats-Missoula-based-group?odyssey=tab

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The Predator Persecution Complex

The Perverse Logic of Wolf Hunts

by GEORGE WUERTHNER

The hysteria that surrounds wolf management in the Rockies has clouded rational discussion.  Wolves are hardly a threat to either hunting opportunity or the livestock industry.

ELK NUMBERS ABOVE OBJECTIVES

For instance, the Wyoming Fish and Game reports: “The Department continues to manage to reduce Wyoming’s elk numbers. The total population of the herds with estimates increased by 16 percent in 2009 and is now 29 percent above the statewide objective of 83,640 animals.”

Things are similar in Montana. Populations have grown from an estimated 89,000 animals in 1992 prior to wolf recovery to 140,000-150,000 animals in recent years.

In Idaho we find a similar trend. According to the IDFG 23 out of 29 elk units are at and/or above objective. Hunter success in 2011 was 20%: one in five hunters killed an elk.

Wolves are clearly not a threat to the future of hunting in any of these states.

READ MORE:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/30/the-perverse-logic-of-wolf-hunts/

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Wolf Torture and Execution Continues in the Northern Rockies

by James William Gibson – March 28, 2012

Montana Anti-Trapping Group Gets Death Threat for Releasing Photos

On March 16, a Friday, a US Forest Service employee from Grangeville, Idaho, laid out his wolf traps. The following Monday, using the name “Pinching,” he posted his story and pictures on www.Trapperman.com . “I got a call on Sunday morning from a FS [Forest Service] cop that I know. You got one up here as there was a crowd forming. Several guys had stopped and taken a shot at him already,” wrote Pinching. The big, black male wolf stood in the trap, some 300-350 yards from the road, wounded—the shots left him surrounded by blood-stained snow. Pinching concluded his first post, “Male that went right at 100 pounds. No rub spots on the hide, and he will make me a good wall hanger.”

READ MORE:

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/wolf_torture_and_execution_continues_in_the_northern_rockies/

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Photo: Courtesy Earth Island Journal

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Trapping Wolves, Animal Cruelty

Tags: Animal cruelty, animal torture, evils of trapping, suffering wolf, Footloose Montana, Earth Island Journal, Great Falls Tribunedotcom