There’s no-big-bad-wolf here. Politicians backed by anti-wolf special interests use propaganda to make the wolf look bad to gain the public’s sentiment. Why? Because they want the wolf delisted in WI, MI, MN & WY to appease these special interests. These politicians have an agenda to bring back a trophy hunt on the wolf. The information anti-wolf politicians put out into the public about the wolf is always carefully selected for its political effect.
It’s all propaganda designed to make the wolf look bad to the rest of the world.
In recent news two Wisconsin politicians want the wolf delisted; 2 GOP northern Wisconsin legislators plan summit on wolves. Read on:
“Two Republican lawmakers from northern Wisconsin said Monday they would convene a Great Lakes wolf summit this fall involving public officials, scientists and citizens from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan to push for state management of wolves. The legislators are calling for the summit in the wake of a federal court’s decision in December 2014 that returned protections of the Endangered Species Act to the western Great Lakes wolf population.” Source
The reality behind this propaganda tells another story. In the USA depredations of livestock by the wolf is less than 2%, non-lethal predator deterrents are working and no people have been killed by wolves in WI, MN, MI or WY in the last 50 years.
Fringe hunters would have us all believe the wolf would be more respected if he was a hunted game animal. But that’s not the reality behind all the anti-wolf propaganda. In fact, wolf hunts cause more illegal killing, (poaching). When a government promotes the killing of an endangered species it causes less respect according to a Study Casts Doubt on Theory That Legal Hunting Reduces Poaching. The study, by Adrian Treves of the University of Wisconsin and Guillaume Chapron of the Swedish University of Agricultural Science, appears in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“…the researchers said, they found that poaching increased, suggesting that “liberalizing wolf culling may have sent a negative message about the value of wolves or that poaching prohibitions would not be enforced.” Source
Instead of promoting trophy hunts on an endangered species why not promote the use of non-lethal predator controls?
Non-lethal predator deterrents can work. “Wayne Pacelle, the president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said that in light of the study, his organization “thinks it’s more sensible for wildlife agencies to rely far more heavily” on nonlethal methods like electric fencing or devices that scare off animals to prevent attacks on livestock.” Source
Wisconsin DNR has programs in place for non-lethal predator deterrents. Watch the following video:
Wisconsin DNR is working on non-lethal deterrents in fact in Wisconsin the USDA Wildlife Services has purchased 25 wolf detergent devices called Foxlights. Foxlights is a non lethal predator deterrent device that is saving lives around the world.
Wolves are social animals living in family groups.
Wolves are social animals living together and relying on each other to survive. Little is known about how trophy hunts are effecting wolf pack dynamics. Overall, in the first WI wolf hunt half of the wolves killed were yearling pups from WI DNR’s data.
“Of the 117 wolves killed by hunters and trappers in Wisconsin last year, 50% were young-of-the-year, or animals born in 2012. Twenty-five percent were yearlings (born in 2011), 17% were 2 year olds, 2% were 3 years old, 3% were 4 years old.” Source: Lab results answer age-old questions over Wisconsin wolf hunt, by Paul A Smith outdoor reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 13, 2013
How does trophy hunting affect the health of an endangered species?
We are just beginning to understand the effects wolves have on the overall health of our ecosystems. A researcher in Yellowstone, Aging in the wild: lessons from animals about the value of growing old | Kira Cassidy | TEDxBozeman, “What do wolves and societal attitudes toward elderly humans have in common? Kira Cassidy relates her research on Yellowstone wolves with other wildlife studies focused on understanding the value of older individuals in group-living species. Cassidy explains how these studies highlight the value of what old individuals can teach us: where we’ve gone wrong, what we might be missing, and what we can do to fix it.” Source
Politicians backed by anti-wolf special interests use propaganda to make the wolf look bad. Why? Because they have an agenda behind this propaganda spinning. The reality behind all the anti-wolf propaganda is that: There’s no-big-bad-wolf here.
Trophy hunts are about power not conservation.