Wolves Can Magically Create A Garden Of Eden
February 2, 2010
This story deserves the recognition of a Black Bear Blog Golden Horse Excrement Award. (I don’t just give these to anybody.)
Wolves are such a wonderful animal. As a matter of fact, they are so wonderful they actually have been given “supernatural powers” just as Ed Bangs, head wolf recovery man for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, declared the other day. Of course Bangs was referring to us nut jobs who think wolves need strict management and control. He thinks we are motivated by fear.
Daniel Licht, a wildlife biologist thinks wolves are so supernatural they can magically transform our National Parks and other wild places into gardens of Eden. His theory is that if a park has too many deer or elk, just bring in a few wolves, tell them to “stay” and then give them a grocery list of how many deer they must kill in order to “balance” that particular ecosystem. And we mustn’t forget that these magical wolves, as intelligent as they are, will only select out the weak and sickly deer. I’m sure if given proper instructions, the wolves can select and kill the best breeding deer in that park as well.
Such wonderful animals these wolves. For the life of me I can’t understand why settlers from years gone by would have wanted to kill off all the wolves. Puzzling really. I guess this is just an example of how man, as cavemanish as he was, didn’t understand the wolf and hadn’t a clue as to its magical powers to transform landscapes in natural items of beauty.
Got too many elk? Import a few wolves and within a short period of time, your state and city parks can be magically transformed into vast stretches of land needing no management or care-taking. The wolves will do it.
If we ignorant humans had only learned this wonderful feature that comes as standard equipment on all wolves a long time ago, think of the millions of dollars we could have saved by employing wolves. As a matter of fact, I think Licht’s ideas are so good, reasonable and certainly backed by science (much like global warming) that dumping a few wolves in other places across the country should take high priority. I was thinking four wolves in Central Park, three on the Boston Common, a couple at the Washington Mall and certainly at least a half dozen in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. That should turn those places into a magical kingdom. Ah, the power of the wolf.
I hope most of you have figured out by now that I’m kidding. However, Daniel Licht is not. He actually is advocating that we import wolves into areas where deer and elk have overgrazed. He actually thinks if you used birth control and a few waves of the magic wand, wolves will stay put and kill off the unwanted deer and elk that are eating too much vegetation. What could possibly go wrong?
Licht’s idea is a reflection of the absolute nonsense being thrown around as science today. If this is the trash being taught in our schools, they need to be shut down. He says that the good things the wolves will do far outweigh the bad things. In all honesty, I know of no good things a wolf can do but there is a laundry list of all the negatives that such a radical and preposterous idea would create.
First off, you can’t control wolves. Just the thought that somehow you could convince a couple of wolves to stay in one area for the sole purpose of killing a few deer and elk is insane. Second, birth control is not effective and has never been proven to work. Toss that theory out the window.
Third, wolves carry disease. We already have found out that two-thirds of all the wolves tested in Idaho and Montana are carrying worms that can cause hydatid disease. They can carry rabies, neospora caninum, brucellosis, the list is a mile long.
Fourth, wolves have no place living near where humans live and frequent. Perverted thinking allows for a chance for humans to “view” wolves at work. Oooooooh, it’s sooooooooooooooo natural you know!
You know, I could go on and on but it is a waste of my time. This is the most ridiculous proposal I have ever heard in my life and any scientists (real ones) who would actually entertain this notion belong in a nut house.
Importing a small number of animals “as a stewardship tool … is counter to 100 years of wildlife management in America,” he says. “It’s going to take a different paradigm” – as well as a fair amount of money to build fences, attach tracking collars and provide contraceptives to keep the wolves from spreading to places where they’re not wanted.
Give me a break!
Tom Remington
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I wish the anti- management wolf crowd would read this well-researched and documented article. But, of course, they do not want to be confused by the facts or historical data which crushes their theory’s of predators can manage the other species instead of man, even though not one actual case study supports their religion.. I’m convinced the more I read these wolf worshipers idiotic diatribes and nonsense about unproven methods the more I am convinced while they were conceived by their parents, their 1960s parents were using LSD.. Below is another religious release of pro predator dogma based in theory at best, no hard factual data, or conclusive historical documentation to support the Predator dream land they invision. This one needs relegated to the horse shit pile as well>>>> Why top predators matter: an in-depth look at new research
Jeremy Hance>>>> http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0202-hance_toppredators.html
I see different versions of the wolf story are making the usual rounds of news outlets today .. they only named one of the scientists – who are the rest? What group of scientists? What are their credentials? Have they studied wolves outside of artificial ecosystems or just read a few papers?
Great rebuttal Mr. Remington!
Them nasty ol’ elk eating all the willows! (I may be wrong, but don’t elk eat grass and moose prefer willow?) The YNP “managers” should be held accountable for allowing the habitat to degrade! Aren’t they supposed to take care of our National Jewel? Any rancher who allowed his cows to degrade stream habitat would be sued, fined or both.
This is voodoo science. This is one man being allowed a platform and being passed off as science. This is as bad as man made global warming.
A garden of Eden infested with hydatid worms
Dr. Valerius Geist’s Response to the Claims That Hydatid Disease Spread by Wolves Does Not Represent a Significant Threat to Humans
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddgskfdk_0cz82m7cm