Some of the on-line comments in response have wrongly and angrily suggested that wolf hunt opponents are caricatures of Madison liberals and Native American citizens.
One item I posted on August 15th about Native American tribal objections - - Opposition Growing Against Wisconsin Wolf Hunt - - provoked these anonymous comments, among others:
From "anonymous" - - Apparently everyone in Madison believes the native eco-stereotype in tuned with the earth mother and all that other happy horseshit, when in reality they are nothing but publicity hounds, pounding drums and disrupting whatever they can to appear important and knowledgeable due entirely to their racial heritage...
From "how can you be so clueless" - - You Madison liberals are truly clueless. The 10,000 plus people who put down good money for the chance to kill a wolf should tell you what Wisconsinites really think. The only thing Indians care about is cheating you out of your money at their casinos and gaining political power by pretending they have a right to that which they do not own and did nothing to produce.
It is best that you stay in your little imaginary world in Madison and type on your computer and stay away from the reality of northern Wisconsin.
From "real american" - - These Indians must be the most delicate, fragile creatures on earth; they are threatened by everything from killing a few wolves to someone digging up a few rocks. Real Americans, on the other hand, see no threats, accept no threats and have no threats. We kill off the wolves and then we bring them back and then we kill them again. We dig up the earth for iron and then make the hole in the ground into lakes and parks. We burn coal and oil and when we run out of that we just dig and find more. We spill a few chemicals in the river and then we clean it up. We don’t stop doing things for fear of the consequences, we just do it and when we break something we fix it. We cut down all the trees, and then we plant new ones. We nuke the shit out of cities and then we go in and plant flowers. We don’t sit around whining and crying about how we destroyed the earth, we just go about and build a new one and its no big deal. Stand up! Be strong! Be Proud! Be a real American! Get that wolf tag today.So I was struck by the thoughtful tone and informative content at the top of an editorial in the Oshkosh Northwestern - - a Gannett chain paper, by the way, so hardly a lefty, underground freebie - - that raised some basic questions about the DNR's permitting dogs in the hunt.
Some organizations have earned the community’s respect and the right to be heard as authoritative voices on issues where their expertise and judgment have never been called into question.I'm not sure if criticism of the hunt, or a lawsuit filed against it over the issue of allowing dogs in the chase - - a practice barred in all other states - - will have any impact before the hunt opens in October.
One such organization is the Oshkosh Area Humane Society, which joined a chorus of voices across Wisconsin in speaking out against the rushed and ill-advised regulations for a wolf hunt this fall
“We received our first inquiry for four large dogs to be used for hunting wolves in the upcoming October wolf hunting season,” executive director Joni Geiger explained in an e-mail message to area media. “I find this appalling and I am ashamed Wisconsin would take such a giant step backwards when it comes to animal welfare.”
But I am glad to see that there are serious voices - - Dave Zweifel of the Cap Times is one - - asking important questions, as are experts supporting the lawsuit, according to the Journal Sentinel:
Several acknowledged wolf experts in Wisconsin, including retired DNR managers Dick Thiel and Randy Jurewicz as well as University of Wisconsin researcher Adrian Treves, filed statements warning against the use of dogs to hunt wolves.The DNR still has time to listen, and act.
In written testimony, Thiel said wolves would regard dog packs as a threat.
"Attacks will be swift and furious," wrote Thiel, former manager of the Wisconsin wolf program. "Dogs will be seriously injured and die, and wolves will be injured and die as they both fight by slashing out."
The use of dogs as an effective means to maintain the wolf population should be viewed strictly from a cost-benefit viewpoint as determined by the hunter-owner. Many hunting dogs are a major investment and the owner is the best person to determine if that investment is at risk or not when pursuing wolves.
ReplyDeleteIf the Wisconsin model for wolf management is successful and adopted by other states, the dogs bred and trained here for the hunting of wolves could be in great demand elsewhere and Wisconsin could become the preferred source for dogs specifically trained for wolf hunts. This could be an excellent new source of income and this doesn’t even include the other potential source of income from dogs for wolf hunting, which would be for bait.
That be some fine sociopathic reasoning.
Delete@ Anonymous 5:16 am. I'm not animal lover nor do I think wolves are sacred but hunting wolves with dogs? Yuck. That can only lead to bloody battles between species. The best way to kill any animal is quickly. I can see destroying wolves that are attacking farm animals but this business of trophy hunting is gross. Who needs a dead wolf head hanging on their wall?
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ReplyDelete". . . the Wisconsin model for wolf management . . . "
you mean, anything goes? Just kill, kill, kill?
There should be no dogs bred and trained to hunt wolves here due to the fact that the hunting of wolves has been illegal up until now. So anyone possessing such dogs should have his animals seized and be fined himself. Or staked to a tree with deer guts smeared all over him and left for a few weeks in the woods. Happy hunting!
I am thankful everyday, that the man I married 30 years ago doesn't measure his manhood by killing something he can't eat. Concealed carrying and killing just for the sake of killing says something about a man.
ReplyDeleteI proudly plunked my $10.00 down to get in the lottery for a wolf permit. If I am among the lucky ones who receive one, I will gladly plunk $100.00 down to get an actual permit. I will then either frame it or burn it.
ReplyDeleteMany of us are planning a howling party on opening night of the Wolf season. We will be following hunters while howling. We may also do a massive Wolf urine spray with crop dusters.
ReplyDeleteThe DNR has rejected the claim that the wolf hunt is a violation of the ridiculous ruling which gave one group of people greater rights than everyone else. Besides, dozens of wolves are shot every year by wildlife control people and none of these people who oppose the hunt now, made a peep about that. It is only when average citizens are allowed the ability to kill wolves do they get bent out of shape.
ReplyDeleteWrong, wrong, wrong and wrong:
ReplyDelete1. The DNR is an enforcing and regulating body: they don't decide who has rights and who doesn't.
2. No one, including the tribes, has greater rights than anyone else over a wolf hunt/wolf protection program. That's just your resentful racist reaction.
3. Wolves that were shot up to this point were shot b/c a certain wolf or wolves had become a nuisance in a particular area, or had killed livestock or pets. It was wildlife management professionals making decisions according to rules that were set up to limit wolf kills, not encouragement of it.
4. "Dozens" (if you can be believed) is a big difference from the hundreds that will be killed in this hunt. Not the same thing at all.
5. Yes, "average citizens" sometimes lack the skills, self-control, compassion for suffering and overall common sense that is required for a safe, sane and humane hunt.
5. Most "average citizens" will not be applying for a wolf kill permit b/c "average citizens" are not the same as the blood-thirsty, itchy trigger-fingered, shoot-it-if-it-moves crowd.
The DNR is directly responsible for the “treaty rights” fiasco since they refused to appeal the Crabb decision when they were in the position to do so. 20,000 tribal members are now entitled to 100 wolves and the other 100 wolves are spread out between the other 5,500,000 citizens which gives non-tribal members 1/275th of the right to kill a wolf. So much for the equal protection under the law doctrine.
ReplyDeleteA person near the Park Falls area who had several pet dogs killed by wolves told me the wildlife control officer who came in and shot the wolf said that was number 20 something for just him that year and it is the wildlife agency itself which promoted and encouraged the wolf hunt. The wolf pelts have a value up to over $600.00 raw and when tanned will have a much greater value especially if documented to be from the first hunt in Wisconsin and it is only right that the public has an opportunity to take advantage of this.
Describing hunters as blood thirsty with itchy trigger fingers and racists is typical of clueless Madison liberals and it is best that you stay in your little make believe world of hatred and bigotry.
The DNR wont act because the Cattlemen's Association has bought these hunts. In Minnesota the Cattlemen's Ass's have been working with their DNR to create their wolf kill plans long before the delisting. Minnesota is ignoring their voters because they have taken money from these bastards. I'm sure Wisconsin is the same.
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