What happens when we cry wolf?
The other day I was reading a magazine that had a couple of articles about wildlife. One of the articles was about wolves and the threat they pose to human life and livestock.
I’ve spent literally years in the out of doors, hiking, walking streams and kayaking rivers that are fished and shared by all forms of other creatures, including humans. I’ve slept out of doors on the ground with and without shelter. In all that time, I’ve never been threatened, harassed, or bothered by a wild animal.
Maybe the problem is too many Fairy Tales. It seems most people have never gotten past the “Big Bad Wolf” fable they were told as children. As kids, most of us sat around the campfire and tried to outdo each other with scary stories. As grownups maybe we need to look into separating real from make believe.
I’ve seen wolves in the wild and they definitely have a look in their eyes that makes you think twice about meddling in their business. I’ve never had a reason to meddle, especially if they have pups. I’ve had encounters, but never a problem, with wolves, bears, cougars, badgers, coyotes, buffalo, deer, elk and moose.
There has only been one suspected wolf caused human death in over a century in the entire North American continent. There have been nonfatal attacks, but the statistics didn’t elaborate. Were the humans intruding on the wolf’s space or maybe threatening their pups?
The suspected wolf caused death happened in Saskatchewan. It was thought to be caused by wolves because they were present when the body was found. There was also evidence of cougars, bears, badgers, wolverines and other animals that are opportunistic feeders. The site was an illegal garbage dump at a mining operation that the government had been trying to shut down for years. Maybe now that someone has died, they will. The victim was a research student from a university.
In comparison to one possible death in over a century in the entire North American continent, we find that every 40 seconds someone in the US requires medical attention for domestic dog bites. Over 300 people have died from domestic dog attacks in the last nine years, and many of the supposed wolf attacks are suspected to be roaming packs of domestic dogs. Domestic dogs generally have no fear of humans, wolves do.
Two hundred and nineteen deaths per year are caused by horses, with many more disabling injuries, 71,490 in 1991, like the spinal cord injury to Christopher Reeves, the Superman star. 48,411 deaths were caused by automobiles in the US alone in 1986. On average there are 1030 deaths by drowning and 131 from electrical home wiring and appliances.
Maybe we should sit around the campfire and tell our kids, “Watch out for that horse or food blender, you could be killed or maimed if it decides to attack.” Or, “Don’t ever ride in a car, it could be deadly. Even if you see one, keep your distance, they’re dangerous.”
Ranchers don’t like wolves, even though they get reimbursed for “proven” wolf kills. Maybe proving it is where the problem is. If the animal is killed by a domestic dog pack, falls over a cliff, gets trampled by a horse or hit by a car, they don’t get paid. All the statistics I found said that one tenth of one percent of sheep deaths are wolf caused. On the other hand, ninety percent of all wolf deaths are human caused.
Recently, where I live, the county commissioners passed an ordinance banning dangerous animals. Their interpretation of a dangerous animal was a wolf, one of which had supposedly been seen in a remote part of the county, jaguars, which no one has ever seen here and grizzly bears, which haven’t been here for a hundred years or more. Those people probably didn’t get their fear from stories around the campfire because, knowing them, it seems unlikley they have spent any time in the out of doors, especially on a dark night around a campfire.
There was another article by a person who apparently has nothing else to do but play with guns. It seems, from the article, that nothing’s safe when he’s around. If it isn’t hunting season, he’s out looking for something, anything, to shoot. Maybe guns are the high point in his life. How much gas, ammo and doves does it take to make a decent meal?
Some years ago I was talking with a man who’d just come back from a hunting trip to SE Asia. He’d had a water buffalo mounted and it was hanging on his office wall. I asked him if the animal had known he was there when he shot it. He proudly told me, “Oh no, he was three or four hundred yards away!” Our conversation ended when I said I’d consider it a legitimate kill if it had been done at close range with a bow and arrow, or even better, hand to hand with a knife.
If hunger is the driving force, hunting makes complete sense to me. Fishing can be catch and release but there again if hunger is a consideration, keep what you catch. Going out with a gun in hand and the mindset that if anything challenges our right to do whatever we feel like can’t be considered hunger, at least not in the context of life.
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