The anti-wolf hysteria is worse now than ever.
Does anyone really believe a wolf injured a dog in Piedmont Heights, as was reported in mid-March? The dog’s owner told a reporter she thought it was a neighborhood dog but that after talking with police was convinced it was something bigger. Sounds like a fishing story. One would think you would recognize a wolf over a neighborhood dog. Even the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources states wolf attacks on dogs are rare.
Wolves are being blamed for the decline in deer, too. Each wolf eats approximately 20 deer a year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In Wisconsin there are approximately 630 wolves. Hunters killed 200,000 deer in the two-week gun season. That doesn’t include other seasons or bow season. Then add 40,000 deer killed by cars. Do the math.
Wolves are blamed for the decline in moose, too. Yes, they are eating the weak, dying or dead moose. That’s what they do. But many moose are dying due to climate change and ticks. You could kill every wolf, and the moose would continue to decline.
Per paleontologists internationally, we are in the beginning of the sixth mass extinction. Google it. Seventeen to
33 percent of all vertebra species are now globally threatened or endangered.
The problem with deer and moose is the same as with elephants and rhinos.
“Humans are like ravenous army ants across Earth, decreasing habitat for other species to live and altering chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans, pushing the planet into a new climate state,” paleontologist Anthony Barnosky wrote in his book, “Dodging Extinction.”
We are in this together. We need to stop placing blame and realize the real problem: humans.
Alice Miller
Maple
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