Wolves – and Game Animal Trophy Hunting
TRUTH concerning Wolves and their Right to exist and thrive, unmolested, in the natural environment.
Human trophy hunters kill from the ‘top-down’ which eliminates the largest and most physically fit adults, who are the most viable breeding stock for the species, which perpetuates the growth of weak herds of ungulates. Trophy hunters perpetuate the decline of the animal gene pool by killing off the best specimens first. These actions weaken the herds overall. At the same time, human hunters eradicate their opposition: natural predators. Predators do mainly ‘bottom-up’ hunting… which means that predators seldom kill the human hunter’s claimed preferred prey. Humans are not being overly deprived of what they unrightfully claim as “theirs” to hunt! People have no more RIGHT to a deer than any other hunter! What makes them think that they have any more RIGHT to harvest a deer than any OTHER Predator?
Is it just all about us humans, all the time?
“We don’t have the right to bulldoze life outside of humanity” – Wolf Expert Douglas Smith on the Yellowstone Wolf Project
Quotation from the Yellowstone Forever project: “Did you know that by the early 20th century, the federal government’s campaign to ‘tame the wilderness’ had completely eradicated wolves from Yellowstone National Park?”
“In a time before scientists fully grasped the concept of interconnected ecosystems, wolves were viewed as menaces rather than being a keystone species, meaning they play a vital role in holding their ecosystem together. Killing off these top Yellowstone predators became common practice, having a catastrophic effect on Yellowstone’s ecology.” https://wildlifeinformer.com/keystone-species-examples/
“One of the most destructive impacts was a dramatic increase in the number of elk that feed on young willow trees. The loss of willows caused a steep decline in the number of beavers who rely on the trees to build their dams and lodges and slow the stream flow.”
In 1920 wolves were essentially eradicated in the Lower 48, then in 1995/96 there were 31 Canadian wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park.
Before this, there was less viable breeding stock due to top-down trophy hunting, combined with the lack of predators, the ungulates and other game animals then devastated the ecological environment that they lived in. The herds then overstayed their then-current locations, overgrazing the meadows, and overeating and trampling the riparian vegetation and stream edges before they moved on.
After the wolves came back, that all changed, now the deer, elk, and buffalo herds keep on the move, as is their natural tendency. NO MORE FAT LAZY ANIMALS! Their overall health and the health of the vegetation and land features improved too, because of the natural ‘bottom-up’ culling that predators do.
This Incredible Video Proves That
Everything Is Connected to Everything
http://www.atchuup.com/reintroduction-of-wolves-to-yellowstone/
Wolves, bears, lions, and other top predators take out the diseased, old, sick, weak, injured, and young.
By eliminating the diseased, old, sick, weak, and injured, any diseases present are also eliminated or put in check and less likely to be transferred to other herd members, whatever their current health situation.
This improves the herd in the long run.
A herd can easily produce more young… but how long can it take to replace its prime breeding males when they are constantly being eliminated by human ‘top-down’ hunting?
Hunting rifles have been greatly improved since black powder, muzzle-loading, single-shot, flintlock, rifles were invented, but have the animal’s abilities improved?
Let us help four-legged hunters to survive; they are the keepers of our natural environment!
If we MUST hunt, we need to hunt more like the wolves!
The lonesome howl of a gray wolf may conjure romantic images of the American West, but the species has long been targeted for eradication. In the early 1900s, gray wolves were trapped, poisoned, hunted, and otherwise largely eliminated from the Lower 48 United States. In 1960 no more than 800 remained of a wolf population that had once numbered in the many hundreds of thousands. Those wolves did not decimate the population of any other species as ignorant people would have you believe. Or do you believe that before the coming of the White Man, when the wolf population numbered many hundreds of thousands, the Native Americans only had ROCKS to eat? They had an abundance of deer and other ungulates! They respected the wolf; they did not fear or hate them.
Predators balance animal populations.
There was an overabundance of elk in Yellowstone at the time when the wolves were reintroduced, which resulted in the elk’s numbers to drop, and then later the wolves’ population also dropped.
From the link below:
“…Wolves are not super-predators and healthy elk are tough to kill, he said. Neither side is so formidable as to wipe out the balance between the two species…”
“Wolves are having a harder time, …because there are both fewer elk in Yellowstone National Park and the herd has fewer individuals with problems - the old, sick, or injured. A decade ago, the elk population density was as high as 13-15 per square kilometer, …Today, it is down to 6-7 per square kilometer.”
“Wolves are capable predators, but they’re not super-predators…”
Population plateaus
…that as the prey base gets smaller, so do predator numbers.
Indeed, in 2011, for the first time since wolves were reintroduced to the park, wolf numbers appear to have hit a population plateau.
Smith estimates about 169 wolves in 15 packs in the park in 2011, down from 174 the year before, indicating wolves could be approaching the carrying capacity of the park. In 2014 the wolf count was 104.
Competition between packs has intensified, Smith said, while packs are beginning to run up against food limits. That means that wolves will kill members of rival packs. Even when a pack has a larger-than-expected number of pups, their survival rate is not as great as it was even a few years ago, Smith said, because there is less food.
Nature does this prey vs. predator balancing because too many of one species of prey animals are balanced by an increase in the population of predators. When the predators exceed the population of prey, the predator species decreases due to hunger and less breeding. In any NATURAL system, all of the populations of ALL the various prey and predator species will be in a constant state of flux. It is the availability of food, the pressure of predation, and disease that makes the difference.
However, most of the time the natural balance is naturally well maintained if the animals are left in peace.
Wolf Conservation Center
WHY WOLVES? 🐺🐺
Wolves are a critical keystone species in a healthy ecosystem. A keystone species is often, but not always, a predator - like the wolf, they play a vital role in holding their ecosystem together. Outnumbered greatly by their prey, predators can control the distribution, population, and behavior of large numbers of prey species.
By altering prey movements, browsing patterns, and foraging behavior, wolves have an indirect effect on plant and tree regeneration. In this regard, wolves have a trickle-down effect on animals and plants, a phenomenon known as a “trophic cascade.” When present in an ecosystem, wolves have been noted to indirectly impact trees, rivers, songbirds, beavers, fish, and even butterflies.
Without predators, such as wolves, the system fails to support a natural level of biodiversity and may cease to exist altogether. The preservation of keystone species is essential for maintaining the historic structure and function of the ecosystems they inhabit.
Another good reason to #StandForWolves!
Humans and human hunters do an extremely poor job trying to accomplish a prey-versus-predator balance. Once again, every four years to a decade, literally billions of mice will be overrunning Australia. They have few natural predators and face little competition from native wildlife. Other than the introduced species of foxes, cats, dogs, and a few native species: there are very few murine (mouse) predators in Australia. The mouse population has overrun the predators, due to the severe lack of sufficient predators and the abundant availability of the mouse’s food sources, then, the mouse population will finally crash when the food runs out.
Everyone is aware of the overabundance of rabbits in Australia.
The Australian Government just spent millions to eradicate feral cats, and now they have billions of mice.
The availability of sufficient predators is a NECESSARY part of the equation!
Let us help four-legged hunters to survive; they are the keepers of our natural environment!
If we MUST hunt, we need to hunt more like the wolves!
Gray wolves create a balance between predator and prey in Yellowstone
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolves-elk-balance
Killing Wolves Backfires
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/news/killed-wolf-increases-livestock-deaths
A recent study in a scientific journal reported that killing a wolf that preys on sheep or cattle is not the best strategy to protect the livestock. — Courtney Holden - Dec 15, 2014
These Non-Lethal Methods Encouraged by Science Can Keep Wolves from Killing Livestock
Experts say old, repurposed techniques and new technologies may be better than bullets at curbing attacks by predators.
“Research from the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin Madison has shown that killing gray wolves leads to three times more livestock attacks, a finding supported by behavioral studies elsewhere. “The wolf pack is a family,” says Adrian Treves, who runs the lab. They cooperate to defend territory and raise pups. When one is killed, the destabilizing effect ripples through the pack. Reproductive age goes down, and naive juvenile attacks on livestock go up, according to Colleen St. Clair, a biologist at the University of Alberta.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/these-non-lethal-methods-encouraged-science-can-keep-wolves-killing-livestock-180976505/
Well, DUH!
One doubtful internet poster claimed for proof, he wanted me to provide him with a ‘Peer-Reviewed Scientific Study’ on this, I replied:
“We don’t need to spend five million dollars on a “Scientific Peer-Reviewed Study” (then toss out the results, because: “We didn’t like the results that we got!”) To PROVE the OBVIOUS!
(Q.) Killing prey species from the top-down of the breeding males, leaves what?
Lesser genetically viable males to breed!
(Q.) Killing off the natural predators, leaves what?
An unhealthy herd and an unhealthy environment!
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
My first impression of a live wolf was at the San Diego Zoo, where they had a temporary 6-foot wire fence, it was just wire with no fence posts, surrounding a small tree… it was located right on the pedestrian walkway… inside was a lone adult wolf and a young female Zoo Staff Member… who was sitting on a chair.
I have seen many photos and videos of people crawling into the dens of wolves and dragging out the pups, while the mom stood by! Obviously, these are really dangerous animals? These were wild wolves in the wilderness, not wolves who were raised by humans, and/or in an enclosure.
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
Pack Behavior – Alpha/Beta Wolves
“The whole thing about alpha wolves and beta wolves — wrong. The scientist who came up with the terms spent the rest of his life trying to get people to stop treating it as true.” — flyin bryan
According to Scientific American, wildlife biologists have mostly dropped using the terms ‘alpha’ and ‘beta,’ as wolf packs actually operate more like families in the wild. The studies that led to the terms in the mid-1900s were done on captive wolves, which operate much differently than wild packs. These wolves often didn’t share family lines, which makes battling for hierarchy in the pack much more likely, as opposed to wild packs which are made up of parents and their offspring. In the wild, all the members of a pack defer to the mother and father of the pack and don’t fight it out for dominance. L. David Mech — who was one of the researchers who played a hand in popularizing ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ wolves — has indeed fought back on the use of the terms since new research has proven them wrong. He recently took his book The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species out of print.
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
This statement below is FALSE!
“There is no documented evidence of healthy, non-rabid wolves EVER killing anyone... in the history of the USA!”
The TRUTH:
FATAL WOLF ATTACKS do happen, but they are extremely RARE!
There have been only two verified fatal wolf attacks on humans in North America, by healthy wild wolves.
This is a list of ‘verified’, ‘questionable’, and ‘unverified’ attacks. Some of the wolves involved in the study have been captive, rabid, or crossbred. (See “Wolf/Dog hybrids” below)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks_in_North_America
Wolf attacks are injuries to humans or their property by any species of wolf. Their frequency varies with geographical location and historical period. Gray wolf attacks are rare because wolves are often subsequently killed, in reaction by human beings. As a result, wolves today tend to live mostly far from people or have developed the tendency and ability to avoid them. The country with the most extensive historical records is France, where nearly 7,600 fatal attacks were documented from 1200 to 1920. [** See Ernest Thompson-Seton’s “Great Historic Animals – Mainly About Wolves” for many of them.]
There are few historical records or modern cases of wolf attacks in North America. In the half-century up to 2002, there were eight fatal attacks in Europe and Russia, *only three in North America, and more than 200 in South Asia. Experts categorize wolf attacks into various types, including rabies-infected, predatory, agonistic, and defensive. (*different source material)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attack
However, I have seen many photos and videos of people crawling into the dens of wild wolves and dragging out the pups, while the mom stood by!
If we MUST hunt, we need to hunt more like the wolves!
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
PROOF: The Yellowstone Wolf Experiment:
“Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem” MyYellowstonePark-com, June 2011.
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem
Wolves in Yellowstone National Park
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wildlife/wolves
http://www.atchuup.com/reintroduction-of-wolves-to-yellowstone/
Search: Wolf Expert Doug Smith on the Yellowstone Wolf Project
Or: wolves “Doug Smith”
Informative video on Yellowstone NP, a portion concerning wolves starts at 21:20 to 23:08
The History of Yellowstone National Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY9OIg03SI8
Search parameters:
< Yellowstone before the reintroduction of wolves >
< trophy hunting is bad for the species >
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
On the KILLING of LIVESTOCK
Coexisting With Wolves - Washington Wolf Recovery talking points...
July 2020 update: Getting to fewer conflicts between wolves and livestock in Washington State.
There is an extremely simple non-lethal method of keeping wolves out of an area.... Red Ribbons called ‘FLADRY’ attached to a fence or wire!
“Reducing conflict by working with communities.
Conflict avoidance measures, information sharing, and expert resources are offered by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Conservation Northwest to ranchers and farmers across the state. Conflict avoidance methods like range riders, guard dogs and fladry can work well, but they aren’t a cure-all.”
https://www.conservationnw.org/our-work/wildlife/coexisting-with-wolves/
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
I have a half-dozen books on wolves and scientific wolf studies.
These books were written by scientists and wolf biologists who were studying wild wolf packs while close-up in the natural Canadian Wilderness, near the Arctic Circle for a year or more, and following the Pack’s movements across the Tundra... Crawling in the wolf’s den to check on the pups, these are major “encounters”! These were wild wolves, not wolves who were raised by humans, and/or in an enclosure.
In the ‘The Arctic Wolf - Living with the Pack’, by L. David Mech
One of the photos on page 93, shows the shadow of David Mech and his camera, the Mom and two pups are just a few feet away, and one of the pups has untied his shoelaces!
Some of the other books I have read and studied:
‘In Praise of Wolves’, R.D. Lawrence
‘The Red Snow - A Story of the Alaskan Gray Wolf’, James Greiner
‘Of Wolves and Men’, Barry Holstun Lopez
‘Wolves of the High Arctic’, L. David Mech
I also have Ernest Thompson-Seton’s “Great Historic Animals - Mainly About Wolves” written in 1937
(He is the one who also wrote:
LOBO THE KING OF THE CURRUMPAW in “Wild Animals I Have Known”
**In Seton’s book: “…Mainly About Wolves” tells the stories of many of those infamous European killer “wolves” from long ago, during the years of 1430 to 1764, that killed many people. Although Seton’s book never says so, they were most likely wolf/dog hybrids ^^. Many of those infamous European Killer Wolf Packs were led by GIANT “wolves” that became the Pack Leaders!
What happened in Europe to change the score? Men with improved weapons! Then wolves learned to fear and respect humans and not think of us as just another prey species.
^^ Wolf/Dog hybrids can run the entire gambit from very doggy-like to very wolf-like and well BEYOND!
Wolfdogs may have no natural innate fear of humans. In many cases, the resulting adult wolfdog may be larger than either of its parents due to the genetic phenomenon of heterosis (commonly known as hybrid vigor).
Noted historic cases such as the Beast of Gévaudan (also written about in Seton’s “Great Historic Animals - Mainly About Wolves”) of exceptionally large wolves that were abnormally aggressive toward humans, this may be attributable to wolf-dog mating.
Observations on wild wolfdogs in the former Soviet Union indicate that in a wild state, these may form larger packs than pure wolves and have greater endurance when chasing prey. Which exactly corresponds to the infamous French and other European experiences, as recorded in Seton’s book.
Due to the variability inherent to their admixture, whether a wolf-dog cross should be considered more dangerous or less dangerous than an average dog or wolf depends on behavior specific to the individual alone rather than to wolfdogs as a group.
v3.1
You have permission to copy and use this document as long as you retain this entire statement, crediting the source:
Wolves – and Game Animal Trophy Hunting (common-sense-science-and-religion.org)