After reading that “Federal sharpshooters are preparing to take to the skies of Northern Idaho in an ill-conceived attempt to kill as many as 75 wolves to artificially boost game populations” I shared the Defender’s campaign on facebook with the hope of accumulating more signatures on the petition against such action.
The book by Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf, a book that I’ve mentioned on this blog before, came to mind yet again. In the novel, Mowat is sent by Canada’s wildlife service to “investigate the cause of declining caribou populations and determine whether wolves are to blame for the shortage. Mowat discovers that rather than being killers of caribou, the wolves subsist quite heavily on small mammals such as rodents and hares, ‘even choosing them over caribou when available.’ He concludes that ‘We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be — the mythological epitome of a savage, ruthless killer — which is, in reality, no more than the reflected image of ourself.’ “
Although the book was criticized for not being entirely factual, Mowat has illustrated a strong point: that we don’t always understand the relationships between all the parts in this amazing world.
Another relevant author: Tom Wessels, wrote the book The Myth of Progress. In it he discusses a very important concept: carrying capacity and the limits to growth. He uses an example of 29 reindeer being introduced in 1944 to St. Matthew Island in the middle of the Bering Sea as a means to supply fresh meat to operators at the LORAN (long-range aid to navigation) station there. When the station was later closed, the reindeer herd was forgotten and twelve years later, a wildlife biologist counted 1,350 healthy animals, a forty-seven fold growth that can be attributed to good habitat with lots of lichen and a lack of any predators.
In the next visit seven years later, the biologist, David Klein, counted 6,000 animals, but this time, the creatures were noticeable malnourished, their food source havng been degraded. Three years later, only 42 individuals remained, all were females with the exception of one deformed male. At this point, the herd was no longer able to reproduce and the population became extinct within the next 24 years.
I mention these two authors because they address issues that come up when I consider Idaho’s wildlife services’ choice to kill wolves. Although I know it’s too late, I personally feel to manipulate populations and environments is to open Pandora’s Box. I understand that our brains allow for complex thought and we’ve created so many ways to “live luxuriously” that living in balance is extremely difficult. How do I celebrate gift giving without wrapping paper? But I cast my vote for a simpler more harmonious way of being. It seems that our lives depend on it!!!!!!
link to Wildlife Defenders website
