Wild wolf makes its way to California!

chizlit said:
David, if California can inact such a ban for mountain lions why do other states still consider it ok to shoot them? Same goes for wolves, bears, lynx, bobcats.........?
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Hi Chizlit,

The states where the wolves have been reintroduced (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) have large cattle ranching economies. They perceive the wolves to be a threat to their economies. They also like to pretend that the Old West never ended and that varmints like wolves, mountain lions, etc. need to be eliminated whether they are real threats or not.

Black bear hunting is allowed in California and most places to my knowledge, as the black bear population is bountiful and for some reason people like to shoot bears.
 
DavidBrown said:
Yes, there is definitely an unyielding group of wolf haters. I think in time as the wolves spread and become permanently established (which they more or less have been in Idaho and the Yellowstone ecosystem) that the number of wolf tolerators will outnumber the haters, but it will probably take a couple more decades.
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I have worked in Montana and still have friends there. They defiantly do not like having their cattle killed by Wolves. I am yet to meet someone who lives outside a city in Montana who likes wolves.

They would happily catch as many as they can and take them to California so the people there can live with them to.
 
Monty said:
I have worked in Montana and still have friends there. They defiantly do not like having their cattle killed by Wolves. I am yet to meet someone who lives outside a city in Montana who likes wolves.

They would happily catch as many as they can and take them to California so the people there can live with them to.
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I really don't understand this attitude towards wolves Monty.

The fact is that most of these ranchers couldn't survive economically without grazing their cattle in public forests and grasslands. This land belongs to me (and every US citizen) as much as it does them. I completely understand that they don't want wolves on private land, and they are in their rights to control the predators there.

I know some ranchers here in California and have relatives who work in agriculture. I really like them as people. I eat hamburgers. I love watching Westerns. I want ranching culture to continue in Montana and across the western US, but I also want sustainable populations of wild wolves in some ecosystems, like Yellowstone and surrounding areas that are PUBLIC land and provide economic benefit for the ranchers that live in Montana. In exchange for subsidizing their business and lifestyles I expect them to put up with some wolf populations and preferably not whine about it all the time. There is enough room for cows, ranchers, and wolves in the 21st century.

That said, the battle between ranchers and wild predators has been going on since cattle were domesticated and is probably never going to end as long as there are ranchers and wild predators.
 
Why are people in California not campaigning to have Wolves established there.
 
Monty said:
Why are people in California not campaigning to have Wolves established there.
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It looks like it is going to happen naturally based on the appearance of the wolf mentioned in the articles above, but likely will take several years. The time lag is good as it will give the wildlife authorities time to come up with rules and procedures about what to do if the wolves attack cattle and stray onto private land and like issues.
 
DavidBrown said:
It looks like it is going to happen naturally based on the appearance of the wolf mentioned in the articles above, but likely will take several years. The time lag is good as it will give the wildlife authorities time to come up with rules and procedures about what to do if the wolves attack cattle and stray onto private land and like issues.
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There is a really serious underlying point here. If the richest nation on Earth can't tolerate the return of wolves to the lower 48, what moral right does the West have to lecture peasant farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, India and Nepal (amongst others) about the need to accept elephants, rhinos, Lions and Tigers et al living alongside them? On that basis, we might as well accept that everything bigger than a fox gets put in zoos.

And for the record, I would like to see wolves back in the UK, even if it did curtail my freedom to wander completely as I liked and even if it did mean I'd have to pay taxes to support the compensation payments that farmers would doubtless expect.
 
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