As Wolf Populations Rebound, an Angry Backlash Intensifies | Hacker News Reader

As Wolf Populations Rebound, an Angry Backlash Intensifies

e360.yale.edu

10 pointschmaynard8 comments

There is also an increase in unethical behavior around wolves, environmentalists say. In Montana, wolves are legally trapped with neck snares placed on trails. A wolf wanders into the metal loop and slowly chokes to death. Sometimes, grizzly bears, dogs, or other nontarget animals are accidentally killed. In Wyoming, snowmobile riders chase down and run over coyotes and wolves in a pastime called “yote mashing.”

In one instance a Wyoming man, Cody Roberts, brought a wolf that he had injured with a snowmobile into a bar in Daniel, Wyoming, with its mouth taped shut. He kissed and teased the leashed wolf and allowed it to be filmed before the animal was shot behind the bar. Roberts was fined $250.

I don't remember which state it was other than it was one of Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming, but I remember reading sometime during COVID of the efforts in that state of ranchers who wanted to wipe out wolves due to what they said were high rates of cattle being taken by the wolves. Their state had legalized pretty much every possible way to kill wolves.

They were doing aerial hunting from helicopters. They were tracking wolves back to their dens so they could kill mothers and pups. They didn't have to use humane methods of killing.

I looked up the numbers on the rates of cattle being taken and it turned out to be something like a couple orders of magnitude lower than the rates that humans were dying from COVID in that state. Yet the state's COVID response was pretty much to ignore COVID. Evidently human life isn't as important there as cattle life.

These articles are always so completely one-sided.

In Alaska these animals are highly intelligent and groups of them will take down Caribou. They aren’t pets.

Of course there’s backlash at folks living in a metro area or working at Yale who get the bright idea to play God and introduce dangerous game into someone’s backyard to “fix” the ecosystem. Except that will never be the case because there are millions of humans now living, recreating, and ranching in that same ecosystem.

Deer are more dangerous to people than wolves. They help spread disease, they destroy plants, and they run in front of cars. Wolves are generally skittish creatures around people that don't want anything to do with you, and will only approach people in an aggressive way if they are starving due to lack of game to hunt.

Leave the wolves alone, they solve problems in an ecosystem increasingly being taken over and damaged by actually very destructive and harmful creatures. Because people are afraid of the propaganda that wolves are going to do everything in their power to eat you and your baby.

On the topic of wolves serving their purpose as an apex predator, I'd venture to guess wild boars are more dangerous to property than wolves by a huge margin.

A dingo will eat a baby no problem, I wonder if a wolf would too?

While often called humans best friend, I think wolves and humans don't live well together in modern times. At some point wolves need to be hunted again or they will spread to human settlements, which will cause numerous problems.

They deserve their territories undisturbed by humans, but I think on farmed land they need to be driven away in most instances.

Of course wolves would also prefer to hunt farm animals compared to dangerous wild boars or difficult to catch deer. They aren't stupid.

What information would you add to make it more well-rounded? I think usually things like the economic cost of wolves diminishing livestock are usually included in these discussions, but that's not really articulated here.

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