In the late 1970s wolf Recovery in Wisconsin began. The Gray wolf made a comeback after being eradicated through hunting and trapping in Wisconsin. It wasn’t long before hunting special interests groups began their bid to get Wisconsin’s Gray wolf delisted. Sadly after 40 years of recovery these special interests (Fringe hunters) hunting groups got their way. In the state of Wisconsin the Gray wolf is hunted (2012-2014) for a fireplace rug & mounted as a trophy when he’s not listed on the Endangered Species Act. He was delisted in 2012 and his domestic relative, the dog, was used to track and trail him until a federal judged ordered the Gray wolf back on the ESL in December 2014. Today Wisconsin’s Gray wolf is facing multiple delisting threats in congress backed by special interests; wanting the Gray Wolf’s habitat for oil & gas, lumbering, and the Gray wolf himself for trophy hunting.
U.S. House Passes Bill To De-List Wolves From Endangered Species.
We must make it right…get it right…before we lose everything…the wolf is a social animal just like we are…they depend on family for survival…so do we as human-beings…
The idea that only man is equipped for conserving our planet’s natural resources is a dying concept; dying right along with the untold numbers of wild sentient beings killed in the name of conservation. Such problems drive home a critical flaw in the paradigm of conserving wildlife.
It’s going to take a major shift in thinking that will require opening up lines of communication between the general public; specifically with interests in conserving our natural resources for future generations to come. It’s not about numbers. It’s about sentient beings sharing our planet, and how we can coexist for the benefit of all living upon Mother Earth.
Changing the paradigm from killing to compassionate conservation is a major shift in thinking…
Through my mind’s eye memories flow through the years spent within the Gray Wolf’s range in Wisconsin’s northern forests in Douglas county starting in the year 2000. There you’ll find vast wilderness of forests and barrens where the Gray wolf resides.
Do you think there’s room for the Gray wolf? The following video was shot 2 summers ago in 2015. This landscape is found on a 15 mile long remote gravel road in northern Wisconsin. Do you think there’s room for the wolf?
Last summer, 2018, I visited this same area (in the video) with friend Elke Duerr and who’s filming in the photograph.
When I began helping to monitor Wisconsin’s Gray wolf in the year 2000 there were only 66 Gray wolf packs in the state. Today’s over winter wolf population count is around 945 individuals.
In northern Wisconsin beauty can be found where the Gray wolf resides. I’ve walked these trails for over two decades in search of Wisconsin’s wild & elusive gray wolf.
The Gray wolf in Wisconsin trots freely down the wild and remote gravel roads in Douglas county.
Rains of summer create a lush paradise in wolf range.
The Gray wolf in northern Wisconsin. Photograph screen shot from Red Cliff reservation trail cam.
In summer of July 2018 I met a Raven on a remote gravel road in Douglas county. Douglas county is home for Wisconsin’s wild Gray wolf.
The Gray wolf in Wisconsin deserves our protection…
Contact your members of Congress today.
What a great blog by Rachel Tilseth. Thanks for sending them out and keeping us abreast of all the chaos regarding the treatment of our wolves and other predators. Although I’ve always been “into” nature, I was distracted with all my other needs etc. for many years. After reading five books regarding our predators and a history of governmental policies and listening to one of the authors, Dan Flores, speak about his book Coyote America, I had my “born again” moment. But this was no religious moment. Reading this book was a consciousness raising experience for me and I haven’t stopped thinking about our predators since. I found Rachel’s blog on the internet somehow and her blogs keep me aware of the daily struggle our predators have to endure. There’s something not right about homo sapiens. We are so out of touch as a culture.If you’re out working for the benefit of these creatures, it’s a thankless struggle against the power structure along with the vast majority of our citizens who are totally disconnected to the natural world and don’t even know any of this is going on. It is repulsive watching our state legislators’ attack on these animals. I find the more I’m outdoors, the more I’m conscious of their plight, the plight of our cougars, badgers, wolves, coyotes, fox, birds of prey, grizzlies… Recently, while I was doing a spring migration raptor count standing in a buddies driveway about a mile off the shores of Lake Superior, I decided to take a mile walk down the road to see what dickey birds were about when I looked out over a field with woods in the background. Suddenly, I realized there was a coyote trotting through this field heading right towards me. I was just looking as I walked along and hadn’t seen this guy. He kept coming and didn’t even realize I was walking along the road right in front of him. So I cleared my throat and he suddenly stopped. He eyed me as I talked softly to him. Suddenly, I realized there was a second animal about 30 yrs behind. That guy was immediately nervous and began moving back towards the woods, stopping occasionally to check the danger. The first guy eventually turned and beat it towards the wolf… I imagined they were wondering why this sapien wasn’t chasing them or firing his six-shooter. This was the end of April. While counting nearly 3200 raptors in 15 days was exciting, this experience with the coyotes fills my heart with joy every time it comes to me. A very different feeling that what I experience w/the raptors. I have had numerous very short encounters with coyotes as I walk an hour daily. They pop out of driveways or the woods and I see them from the car while driving and I just observed a couple in Yellowstone while there observing wolves. I cannot come to grips with how someone could pay $18 and drive the country roads around my house following their dogs for an opportunity to kill, to end the life of one of these animals. One day I was coming home and found the road bloody from one of these “kills for enjoyment” hunts. I guess it comes down to the Levels of Consciousness of each of us. I have this chart that was in a book I read. I keep that chart at my eating table so I can review it while I eat and a copy in my car. We have numerous legislators, judges, presidents, hunters that kill for the joy of it etc, and many sapiens that we all encounter daily that are functioning in the lower levels of consciousness which are all in the “negative” category. You wonder why we have such injustice in this country i.e. the only country that does health care for profit, has the death penalty, tax policies for that benefit the wealthy, prisons for profit, the #1 purveyor of violence in the world, and WI the only state that turns their dogs loose on the wolves leading to the slaughter of a creature that does more for the balance of nature than possibly any other creature on earth, and state policy that turns the boys loose on the coyote (our oldest canine in North America). I told the fella in Durango I bought the first coyote book from that I was buying it to change my perception of the coyote. His response was that it would do that and it did. It was conscience raising. Everything is first a thought. If one thinks about killing predators or joining the military to hunt heads that’s what they do. Rachel does what she does out of love for our creatures, to keep our planet, possibly the only such place in the universe, in a natural state and conducive for all creatures. I don’t see any way out. Sapiens are what we are. Each of us can only do our part by raising our own level of consciousness. We create PEACE by Being Peace. It’s a simple concept but difficult to live when we’re surrounded by negative people and policies.
Jim,
Thank you for sharing your encounter with Wisconsin’s wild wolf. I look forward to a summer wolf howl survey with you. How lucky your are to live among these beautiful sentient-beings.
Rachel