Heads Up

[VioletBlueIvy]

We have lost 3 calves and 1 cow to wolves. Those are the "missing" ones that we could prove.
First kill was 200 yards from our front door. The next 2 happened in our pasture. one calf was our daughters colleage fund calf.
Sorry I do not support this.
I think about our cattle, horses, birds, dogs and cats. No animal should die like the ones killed by wolves. It is gory and sickening. I could post a couple of different sites, but it would lock this thread and make people sick.

As for the poster posting alau about wolves attacking people I'm pretty sure that college students family in Canada does not think a wolf attack on a person is funny. they lost their 24 yo son. How about that jogger in Alaska?

I'm sorry, that was a bit insensitive in retrospect....I am sure it is very frustrating for you to be losing your livestock to the wolves, as it would be no matter what the predator was. Anyone who has lost animals to predators feels the same way. I am sorry for your loss.
Just to clarify, I do not find animals and people being attacked by predators funny, no matter what that predator is.
I just think that the thought of Wolves as a species ever being a threat to Humans as a species is laughable. If humans and our livestock get picked off now and then, it is really just a drop in the bucket against us, we are as a species completely out of control....and thank goodness there are some of us that realize that and are trying to manage the situation. We are only hurting ourselves with our greed, and it will catch up to us eventually....
There are many who believe wolves are "The canary in the coal mine" for whats left of our wilderness.
Here is a good article about this http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/chadwick-text
If we had wolves here we would have a lot less coyotes, and I would really appreciate that! Maybe coyotes arent a problem in your neck of the woods.
Maybe it would be more in line to discuss methods of protecting livestock against wolves?

Just wanted to add this, not sure if it helps or hurts my argument, but it's interesting
http://www.wildsentry.org/WolfAttack.html​

 

[Terri O]

Quote:
I agree with this post wholeheartedly. If they would help with the coons, coyotes and weasels here it would be nothing short of a blessing! Terri O in WI

 

[aprophet]

We do not have a problem with coyotes in the tidewater area ( SE VA) because as they started to move in we have been trapping and dispatching them as fast as they try to move in very few here the funny thing about wolves is they WILL breed with coyotes I posted a link recently about this we are starting to see a reddish coyote in NE NC that is a result from this cross, so instead of what you think you might get you may get a lot larger yote with no fear of people

http://www.canids.org/PUBLICAT/CNDNEWS3/2conserv.htm


http://www.montana.edu/~wwwbi/staff/creel/bio480/The red wolf.pdf

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Is this the college student in canada you are talking about? Or is it another attack?
An excerpt from http://www.wildsentry.org/WolfAttack.html
During the evening of July 1, 2000, on the shores of Vargas Island, British Columbia, a wolf entered the campsite of a kayaking group. They chased the wolf away. Members of the group also spotted another wolf that apparently hung back from the bolder wolf. At 2 a.m., 23-year-old Scott Langevin awoke with a small dark wolf tugging on his sleeping bag. "I yelled to try to spook it off, and I kicked at it," Scott said. "It backed up a bit, but then it just lunged on top of me, and it started biting away through my sleeping bag."

He rolled in an effort to situate the fire between him and the wolf, but the animal jumped on his back and bit him about the head. The noise woke his friends and they drove the wolf away. The wounds to Scott's head required 50 stitches.


And they do mention hybridization as a factor in wolves that have become a problem.

This is interesting also;

Putting Risk Into Perspective

- Forest Service email reported 1992 figures on the wildlife hazards afield. Topping the list of animal-caused human deaths were deer, racking up 131 for the year. Except in movies, sharks took only one human, bees 43, and rattlesnakes ten.
- You are more likely to be killed by a coconut falling on your head than by a shark (therefore we absolutely oppose the introduction of coconut trees to Montana!)
- From 1989-94 there were 109 fatal dog attacks in the U.S.
- Children crushed to death by televisions since 1990: 2
- An average of 100 people per year choke to death on ballpoint pens.

In the next year:

- You have a 1 in 2 million chance of dying from falling out of bed.
- You have a 1 in 2 million chance of being killed by an animal.

Lifetime risks:

1 in 3 chance that you'll die of heart disease.
1 in 5 chance that you'll die of cancer.
1 in 45 chance that you'll die in an auto accident.
1 in 72 chance that you'll deliberately kill yourself.
1 in 700,000 chance that you'll be killed by a dog.

So if society deems wolves expendable due to the threat they pose to human safety, it only stands to reason that ballpoint pens, televisions, cars, and dogs should be eliminated also.

 

[aprophet]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/29/canada.singer.killed/index.html

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well I know of at least two cases here in the Phoenix area where children were crushed by falling furniture (I'm pretty sure one was a TV and one a chest of drawers) in hte last 5 years, so I rather doubt the accuracy of that particular part of the statistics.

 

[judas]

Quote:
i thought that was mexican people smuggling coyotes and drug mules being introduced ?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Sorry, I guess I am too close to the immigrant issues to see the humor.

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
I guess I missed the humor in it, too.

My concern with humans reintroducing an apex predator back into its original territory is that the humans may not take into consideration that the territory may no longer support the apex predator. If subdivisions have encroached, there will not be enough habitat to provide the opportunity for a full and healthy life for the wolves. I personally would hate to see a wolf digging through a trash can to find enough food to feed her pups. Then, of course, there are those good samaritans who will leave food out for the wolves because they don't want them to starve and the wolves become less fearful of humans. I'm not sure that a wolf would be able to discern between a plate of left-overs and your dog or cat on your front porch.

Like I said earlier, everything changes. I don't trust the government to reintroduce this apex predator without doing more harm than good...

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Quote:
She was killed by coyotes not wolves.