Raising Wolves To Be Released Into The Wild
Posted by Tom Remington on July 7, 2008
Are we kidding ourselves? Is it really possible to “raise” a wolf, believing it is wild and having had all the wild instincts bred into? Then release it into the wild and expect it to “act normal”.
Newstimes.com reports that there are many facilities around operated in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that raise Mexican gray wolves to be released into the wilds of the Southwest. It’s part of the Species Survival Plan.
Between 1977 and 1980, wildlife biologists captured the last five Mexican gray wolves left in the wild and began a captive breeding program. There are now 49 facilities involved in the program in the U.S. and Mexico.
Through their efforts, the wolf population has grown to about 400. In 2003 they began releasing the wolves back into the wild. There are now about 50 in the wild.
Participants, including the USFW, have convinced themselves and others, that they can raise wolves “that is normal wolf behavior” and release them back into the areas of the Southwest with little or no problems.
In accordance with Species Survival Plan regulations, these wolves have almost no contact with humans. Unlike the ambassadors wolves, almost no one gets to see them.
“If they get accustomed to humans, you can’t release them into the wild,” Heineman said.(emphasis added)
Wolves are a predator. They are highly intelligent and adaptable but they know the connection between humans and food and this presents a problem once released but officials refuse to admit that. As a matter of fact, they go out of their way to convince the public that those who “fear” the wolves are uninformed. And just who gets to decide what is “accustomed to humans”?
“Our ambassadors wolves come and greet humans,” Heineman said. “When the Mexican wolves see humans, they scatter and the pups hide. That is normal wolf behavior.”
“When I go up there, they take off,” Bose said of her visits to the enclosure the wolves live in.
Heineman said seeing actual wolf behavior puts the lie to legends of wolves gathering in a pack, circling people, then moving in for the kill, teeth bared.
“Those legends are why wolves are hunted down,” she said.
And the wolf laid down with the sheep and they lived happily ever after!
Tom Remington
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