Indian legend from the Northwest: The people were hungry and they ask the spirit for help. He gave them caribou. The people and the caribou multiplied. After some time many caribou became diseased and again the people were hungry, again they ask the spirit for help. He gave them the wolf. The caribou and the people and the wolf lived together in health.
A study released this week of Elk in Yellowstone, tested the hunters myth that elk are thin and weak and die from fear and stress when wolf are present. It was found to be untrue. When elk encounter wolf they move, and remain more vigilant for about 24 hours, this happens about once a week and they still graze while they are alert. The weight and fat of elk where wolf are present is the same as where they are not. Wolf take a few calves, but the bulk of their feed is sick or injured, unfit for hunters freezers, they also scavenge elk they find which are dead.
A study a few years back in Minnesota or Michigan found moose populations changed very little with the addition of wolf, but the overall health of the heard increased, animals were more robust, ie survival of the strongest.
White tail deer populations in the plains states are hugh, there are too many, they are a pest animal eating crops and causing car wrecks. This growth has been steady since before WWI, when the last wolf were killed in the prairie states. Wolf held the populations to a constant level. Now, without the wolf we have too many white tail, and too many coyote and not enough fox. Wolf kill coyote, coyote kill fox. If you mess with the balance this is what you get. Too many white tail, coyotes and rodents (the fox's T-bone).
Write the US Fish and Wildlife and the President, he fucked this up.
They were shooting them anyway. now they'll have a field day. Your post is correct but when does being correct get one anywhere in these times.
ReplyDeleteO.F., I am not sure if it gets us anywhere very often. And thats what makes it the good fight, being right is like winning all the time, and when we turn back the forces of greed and ignorance and sprawl and waste, even those little temporary events, that is so sweet.
DeleteAgree completely - have signed one of the online letters and sent it to them but I don't know if it will do any good. I am very disappointed in President Obama for allowing this.
ReplyDeleteMauigirl:
DeleteI signed them as well. Well he has done a few things that are really powerful, but it feels sometimes like he is just weighing and trading one step forward for one back. I really am worried about the pipeline, I don't know what he might do there. I usually give a few dollars to Dems high profile races, like the current Sen. race in Mass. But I have stopped giving to them for the moment. I need to see some more positive things out of the Prez and the Dems before I chuck in any more.